What is needed to make a will?

The long answer

A will must comply with the requirements of the Wills Act 7 of 1953. These are the requirements: 

1. You must be older than 16 years and of sound mind, which means you are mentally competent to know what you are doing when deciding how to distribute your property after your death;

2. The will must be in writing and can be typed or handwritten. If it’s handwritten, the person who writes it cannot be a beneficiary of the will;

3. Each page of the will must be signed by you (the testator), including the last page;

4. Each page of the will must also be signed by two competent witnesses at the same time as you sign it. In other words, you all sign at the same time. A competent witness is someone older than 14 years;

5. A person who cannot sign a will can make a thumbprint instead of a signature, but this will have to be done in the presence of a Commissioner of Oaths, who must be satisfied that the person making the thumbprint is the testator. This must also be done in the presence of the two witnesses;

6. If you are married, your marital regime should also be mentioned. Legalwise.co.za points out that if you are married in community of property, you cannot decide on your surviving spouse’s assets, as you and your spouse share a joint estate of assets and debts.

There are a number of free will templates that you can download. Here are the links to three options:

https://legal-aid.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Example-of-a-Single-Individual-Last-will-and-Testament.pdf

https://www.legalwise.co.za/help-yourself/legal-articles/basic-will-template/

https://formfactory.co.za/last-will-testament-template/

Wishing you the best,
Athalie