Find a wills and estates attorney in South Africa: drafting a valid will, executors, testamentary trusts, guardians, estate planning and dying without a will.
List your firm for freeA wills and estates attorney plans what happens to what you own: drafting a valid will, nominating an executor and guardians, setting up testamentary or living trusts for children and dependants, advising on estate duty, capital gains tax and liquidity, safekeeping the original will, and administering the estate when the time comes. They also act when a will is disputed or a beneficiary is left out.
Many attorneys draft a simple will for a modest fixed fee, or free of charge if they are nominated as executor, in which case the executor fee applies later at up to 3.5% of the gross estate plus VAT. Estate planning with trusts is quoted separately. Ask whether nominating the attorney as executor is a condition, and whether the fee can be agreed now.
General information about South African law and practice, not advice on your matter. The practitioners listed on this page give that advice.
Under the Wills Act the testator must be 16 or older, and the will must be in writing and signed by the testator at the end and on every page in the presence of two competent witnesses aged 14 or older, who sign in the presence of the testator and each other. A beneficiary or their spouse who witnesses the will generally forfeits the inheritance. A court can condone a document that fails these formalities only in limited cases.
The Intestate Succession Act decides. A surviving spouse and children share the estate, the spouse receiving a child share or a set amount, whichever is greater, and everything if there are no children. Without a spouse or children the estate passes to parents, then siblings, then more distant relatives. The Master appoints an executor, minors inheritances may go to the Guardian Fund, and you have no say over guardians or who is excluded.
Someone able and willing to do the administration or to appoint an attorney to do it for them. Family members are often appointed as executor and then instruct an attorney as their agent, which keeps the family in control while the professional does the work. The executor fee is negotiable before the appointment, so agree it in writing.
The Administration of Estates Act chain worked out from the events you record, estate money in trust, and fee notes at each stage.