WILLS AND ESTATES BOARD EXAMS

WILLS AND ESTATES BOARD EXAMS:-In terms of trusts, fiduciary accounts = look over them but don’t go into exceptional detailIntroduction:-Under South African law, a person may make a will directing how his assets shall devolve after his death (Law of succession will apply [The wills Act 7 of 1953] will apply) or a person may die without leaving a will, in which (Law of intestate succession will apply [intestate Succession Act81 of 1987]).-A person who has dies having made a will but does not dispose all of their assets, then they are said to have died partially intestate and testate.oThe assets that have not been dealt with will be dealt with intestate-SA law recognises the freedom of testation subject to the provisions of the will not being immoral, vague or contrary to the constitutionoThus testator may disinherit whom he wants (including children and family members)oHowever this does not preclude them from calling maintenance-The wills act 7 of 1953 prescribes requirements and formalities for a valid will and applies wherea will has been executed on or after 1 January 1954.oThe law of succession amendment act 53 of 1992 made considerable changes to the execution of wills.Thus if a person died before 1 October 1992– then wills act prior to amendment appliesThe requirements for a will to be valid in terms of Section 2 must be adhered to strictlyIf person died after 1 October 1992 – then formalities of the amendment act will applyA will which is complete and regular on face of it (prescribed formalities have been compiled) is presumed to be valid until contrary has been proven-Where a will does not comply with the formal requirements of the Wills Act, in terms of section 2(3) of the HC, may direct the master to accept the document which has been drafted or executed by a person who is since deceased as the will of that person where the court is satisfied that the document is intended to be the will-Testator may now sign and sing includes:oSignature oInitial oMark -Witnesses are precludedfrom making a mark, they actually do need to sing it -The certifying officer is now limited to a commissioner of oaths who may make his certificate at the time of execution or on condition the will was executed in his presence, as soon as possible thereafter the death of the testatoroTestator must also sign on each page of the will other than the page on which his certificate appears Certificate can accordingly appear anywhere on any page of the will-An estate account must be lodged with the Master within 6 monthsfrom date of issue of lettersof executorship-Estate duty if payable must be paid 30 days from assessmentand within 12 months of the deathof the deceased-In order to have give effect to a bequest who is donated to a minor childoThe bequest must be paid to the master for a deposit in the guardian fund Background image