Girl,11, molested by uncle 20 times. This can happen to your daughter

Last Updated on 7, April 2014

According to a Straits Times article Coach driver molested niece when she was 11, it was reported that the girl’s uncle molested her 20 times. She did not dare to report it earlier due to out of fear. Of course, this can happen even for young boys as well. Sometime, the greatest enemy turns out to be a relative.

This highlights the fact that young children are extremely vulnerable. First, for the very young they seriously do not know what is right or wrong. Second, even if they know what is wrong, they are fearful to report it. If their closest relative can do harm to them, do you think they trust a teacher or a policeman who are strangers? Third, do they seriously know who to report to anyway? Fourth, if the issue at hand involves civil suits (i.e. not a police case) such as mismanagement of money by the relative/guardian, how is this young fellow going to find money to hire expensive lawyer to fight in court since all the money has already been wasted away at the IR?

There are a few ways which a minor’s guardians are appointed:

1. Existing biological parents are guardians.
2. If one parent passes away, the surviving parent is the default guardian.
3. A guardian can be appointed by the court.
4. A guardian can be appointed by the parent’s Will.

Therefore, do not take chances. Appoint your own guardians for your children. The question is this: how much money will it take to ensure the children’s are taken care of, that money will not be squandered away? I get calls very often on this but most of the time people think that it just involves writing a Will of S$200. Can $200 buy the New iPad? The new IPad is priced at around US$829 for a 64GB model. Is the children’s welfare much less valuable than an IPad? If S$200 cannot even buy a gadget like IPad, do you think it can perform the miracle of ensuring your children’s monies are safe?

Remember that not all relatives are created equal – some are more equal than others.

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