Most people put off making a will because it feels morbid, complicated, or expensive. It is none of those things. It is a short document that removes an enormous amount of difficulty from the worst week of your family’s life.
What a will actually decides
Without one, the Intestate Succession Act decides for you, using a fixed formula that knows nothing about your circumstances. It does not know that your partner of twenty years was never legally your spouse. It does not know that one child is financially secure and another is not. It does not know who you would trust to raise your children.
A will lets you name your heirs, appoint the executor who will wind up your estate, nominate a guardian for minor children, and set up a testamentary trust so that a young beneficiary’s inheritance is managed rather than handed over on their eighteenth birthday.
Getting the formalities right
South African law is unforgiving about how a will is signed. The testator must sign in the presence of two competent witnesses, who must then sign in the presence of the testator and of each other. Every page must be signed. A witness — or that witness’s spouse — who is also a beneficiary will usually lose the benefit.
These rules exist to prevent fraud, and they do their job. They also invalidate a great many well-intentioned homemade documents.
Trusts, honestly
A trust is not a tax trick and it is not a status symbol. It is a structure in which trustees hold assets for the benefit of someone else, and it comes with real obligations under the Trust Property Control Act — proper records, a separate bank account, trustees who apply their minds independently, and Letters of Authority from the Master before it may operate at all.
Used for the right purpose it is an excellent instrument. Used because someone at a braai recommended it, it is an expensive administrative burden. We will tell you which one you are looking at.