Does a beneficiary have a legal or moral obligiation to look after the testator?

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Nahabhann

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An elderly man I know has named a religious organisation as the main beneficiary of his estate, to the amount of €330k. However this organisation is not aware of this and as such is not taking care of this man. I would like to know if a beneficiary has a legal obligation, or at least a moral obligation, to care for this man in his old age?
Can the man's solicitor be asked to approach the beneficary concerning their responsibility of care?
He could be well looked after if he had willed his estate to his extended family. As it stands, noone atall is looking after him and he is in need of care. What is best thing to do in this situation? Thanks
 
Nahabhann said:
... However this organisation is not aware of this and as such is not taking care of this man. I would like to know if a beneficiary has a legal obligation, or at least a moral obligation, to care for this man in his old age? ...
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No obligation.
Nahabhann said:
... Can the man's solicitor be asked to approach the beneficary concerning their responsibility of care? ...
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Who does the asking? Unless a solicitor gets specific instructions from a client, s/he cannot act or reveal details of a client's confidential affairs. Even then I can't see a solicitor acting on these bizarre (IMHO) instructions.
Nahabhann said:
... He could be well looked after if he had willed his estate to his extended family. As it stands, noone atall is looking after him and he is in need of care. What is best thing to do in this situation? Thanks
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If I understand your post correctly, unless the extended family sees a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, they can't appreciate their moral obligation or see their duty of care to this man.

The best thing to do is to inform the authorities and to try to find a placement for him in an appropriate care home and hope his extended family leave him in peace for the rest of his days.

I am not a lawyer.
 
There is no legal obligation. Why doesn't he use his lump sum to purchase care for himself?
 
If he is in need of care and if he has money, he should pay for it himself.

If he is not looking after himself, could a relative apply to have him made a ward of court. Then a court appointed person,probably a relative(?), would be able to use his money to look after the old man.

A will is not a contract. The family could look after this man and he could still leave the money to the religious order. And vice versa, the religious order could look after the man and he could leave his money to his family.

Is the religious order in the business of looking after elderly people? If so, could he not pay them for his care?
 
Brendan, Exactly what I was thinking. If he has assets use then for his care.
 
Many people when they get old and despite having plenty of funds can be very reluctant to spend money. I appreciate that many posters where the thought of death rarely is an issue may have problems in understanding this attitude.
 
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