So what exactly is a will and why do you need one?

In simplified terms, a will is a document in which you nominate someone to wind up your estate when you die and to divide your estate to those persons whom you select as your heirs.  You must be at least sixteen years of age to make a valid will.  A will must be signed by you and two competent witnesses (any person over the age of fourteen years who is competent to give evidence in a court of law can witness a will) in accordance with formal legal requirements in order for it to be valid.    

You need a will if you want to stipulate to whom your estate should be distributed to after your death.  A will also allows you to make detailed provisions about how the inheritance of any of your minor heirs is to be looked after.  In the absence of clauses providing for the creation of a trust for the benefit of such minor heirs or the payment of their inheritance to their guardians, such inheritance would have to be paid into the guardian’s fund.  The administrative hassles which your children’s guardian would possible face in accessing such funds could affect your children a lot as the much needed funds for their maintenance and well fare might not be available immediately when needed.

If you do not have a will when you die your estate will not go to the government / state but will still be distributed to certain of your relatives in terms of the laws of intestate succession.  A good will is therefore important to ensure that whatever you built up during your lifetime, no matter how big or small, is left to those whom you want to inherit it. 

You need to regularly update your will to ensure that it always reflects your last wishes.  Whilst we will endeavour to contact our clients in the anniversary month in which they signed their wills to enquire if they wish to amend their wills, our clients can contact us at anytime for amendments to their wills.

Although you can leave your assets to anyone and state all sorts of final wishes in your will, the law requires certain things to be complied with in preparing and signing your will to make it valid.  A will is only of value if it is valid.  This is why you need the assistance of someone who will reduce your wishes into writing correctly and who understands the legal requirements for the validity of a will in order to help you get a good will.  This is why you need to contact us.

What do those weird words in most wills mean?

Some words and phrases in wills can be confusing.  You must always ask for clarification before signing your will so that you fully understand what you are signing.  Our definition of terms contains most of the common words and phrases used in wills.

Our service offering

We offer our clients one-on-one consultations where we are able to talk the client through the options available in order for them to achieve their desired result.  We require our clients to complete a simple confidential will application form in which we obtain necessary information to enable us to draft the client’s will.  A draft is sent to the client and any necessary amendments are done once the client has considered the draft will.  The client then signs the will and we retain the original for safe keeping on the client’s behalf, should the client require the service, or merely a scanned copy if the client does not require the safe keeping services.

We also offer a simplified service for our clients who require a very simple will but are unable to come in and consult with us due to time constraints.  Our clients can select one of three preset wills and have an option to have their wills prepared in Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sepedi, Sesotho, Siswati, Setswana, Tshivenda, or Xitsonga, all of which will have an English interpretation for each clause.  The information we require to prepare such wills can be sent to us through our interactive sms wills drafting system.  Once the will has been generated it is dispatched, together with signing instructions, to the client in accordance with their selected will delivery option. 

Something to consider

Due to the various processes in the administration of a deceased estate, the finalisation of such estates take time.  For this reason, we urge our clients, wherever possible, to consider taking out life and funeral policies which will pay out directly to their nominated beneficiaries.  This will ensure that the family has some funds available shortly after your death to cover funeral and day to day living expenses where necessary.  There are a few pay-as-you-go policies which we are able to recommend.  Please contact us for more information.