FAQs

Who your beneficiaries, heirs and legatees are: your will stipulates who will benefit from your estate and what portion of your estate you bequeath (give) to them.

Whether a testamentary trust should be created for your minor children.

Who the trustees should be if you do require a trust to be set up.

Nominating your preferred guardians of your minor children.

Who the executor of your estate should be.

Your last wishes, such as whether you want to be buried, be an organ donor, etc.

No, these services are all free of charge.

All Last Wills and Testaments must be in writing. This means that a Will may be typed or handwritten.

All competent persons are allowed to make a Last Will and Testament if they are 16 years and older. Competent means that the testator/testatrix must have sufficient mental capacity to understand the nature and effect of the testamentary act.

The signature of the testator/testatrix must appear on every page of the Will as well as at the end of the Will. This signature must be made in the presence of two or more competent witnesses.

Last Wills and Testaments should be dated to avoid confusion in case another Will is found. It will also give more clarity if the pages of Last Wills and Testaments are numbered.

A relatively unknown and interesting fact is that any person of 14 years and above is competent to act as a witness to a Last Will and Testament.
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According to South African law, if you die without leaving a valid Will, the provisions of the Intestate Succession Act, Act No. 81 of 1987, as well as other legislation which may be applicable based on your unique scenario, will govern how your Estate is distributed. You may want your Estate to be divided between your surviving Spouse, Children, Parents, and/or siblings according to a specific ratio. However, according to the Intestate Succession Act, your Estate will devolve according to a very specific ratio and according to a specific hierarchy.

This free benefit offered by Pineapple allows you to get a valid and professional drafted will done by a consultant who will meet with you to assess your circumstances. This includes safekeeping of your will and unlimited amendments
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This cover is the most cost-effective way to provide funding to cover your estate's legal costs and fees when you pass away. The “All The Frills” will™ integrates with your will to indemnify you against the legal fees and costs at death, including executor fees, conveyancing fees, testamentary trust fees and more.
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This policy is the most cost-effective way to provide funding to cover your estate's legal costs. It can also prevent massive delays in administering your estate, saving your family trauma and at worst financial ruin.

A living will provides for when you are still alive but are incapacitated and unable to communicate your wishes. It is an advance directive documenting your wishes surrounding medical treatment while you are still alive but not able to make these decisions for yourself – for example, if you are in a coma and are on life support.

Your living will is a one-page document that is separate from your will, that communicates your preferences for end-of-life treatment when you are unable to.

Yes. The beneficiary(ies), as stipulated in a will, have many and various rights. With regards to the process of estate administration, a beneficiary may enquire of an executor or directly from the Master of the High Court’s office as to the progress of the winding up of the estate. With regards to their inheritance, a beneficiary may renounce an inheritance. However, when a beneficiary renounces their inheritance, they renounce their entire inheritance. They cannot renounce just one item/aspect of the inheritance. When joint assets are bequeathed to two or more beneficiaries, the onus is generally on the beneficiaries to amicably distribute the relevant assets in equal share or value.

You may not have many assets or dependants, but you should still seriously consider writing a will. You may very well have a car, jewellery, heirlooms, or savings that you may want to leave to specific people in your life. In your will, you can name an executor responsible for carrying out your wishes.

If you have minor children, you should also consider who a suitable guardian would be for them. If something were to happen to you, a will helps social workers guide the court to make a decision based on your wishes. If you don’t name a guardian, the court will appoint one for you, and it may not be the person you would have wanted/chosen.

No, wills are perpetual by nature, which means once the testator proofs and validates his/her will, it will never terminate. A will can never actually “expire,” and there is no restriction that limits the time during which a will is still valid. The only way a last will and testament becomes invalidated is when the testator (you) revokes all previous wills in their current will.

There are also additional restrictions on the time during which the executor of the will can initiate probate. Even though your will may still be valid, it is important to remember that your will may no longer suit your needs. Your circumstances may have changed significantly since you prepared the will. For example, you may have since gotten married or divorced, one of your beneficiaries may have passed away, or you may have acquired substantial assets not covered by your will.

If you sign as a witness, you may not benefit from the will at all. You are also prohibited from being appointed as an executor, administrator, trustee or guardian. If you are, the nomination will be void.

Wills may not contain any illegal, unethical or immoral provisions.

It stands to reason that a Last Will and Testament may not be a forgery. A Last Will and Testament may also be declared null and void if the document is genuine but the signature that should have been the testator’s was forged.

The expression of a testator’s last wishes may not be coerced. If the Last Will and Testament is not a result of the testator’s/testatrix’s own free will, the Last Will and Testament will also be declared null and void.

A Beneficiary may not be an unworthy person. He/she will be excluded from a Last Will and Testament if he/she, as an extreme example, is a Beneficiary who intentionally or recklessly caused the testator’s/testatrix’s death.

If you own assets in a country that does not have the same inheritance laws as SA, you will need to draft two wills: a local will for your local assets and an offshore will for the assets in the country with different inheritance laws.

For example, suppose you have assets in countries such as France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, or certain parts of Canada where Civil Law is observed. There are very specific laws with regard to inheritance, and forced heirship applies. This means you do not have much control over who will inherit the assets you have within these jurisdictions, and as such, you need a separate Offshore Will to deal with this.

Simple Wills
Even with people requiring a basic will, getting a professional to help you draft your will and advise on best practices and what to look out for is strongly advised.
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​For example, with minor children, it is advisable to make provision for them to receive their inheritance through a testamentary trust structure. Failing to do so may result in their inheritance passing to their guardian or the Government Guardian’s Fund.

Complex Wills
People with more complicated estates, multiple assets and investments and potentially offshore interests will have to consider various factors when drafting their will. Taxes, asset transfer, and offshore administration of their estate with multiple stakeholders require an in-depth technical understanding of estate administration and tax law.

Your will not being distributed according to your current wishes, leaving your loved ones disadvantaged.

Changes in relationships or family dynamics lead to unintended beneficiaries inheriting from your estate, resulting in family feuds and even legal battles.

Legal challenges in the estate administration processes, resulting in delays in asset distribution.

You forfeit the opportunity to decide who inherits what, and that your Estate is distributed according to South African law. This means people who you may not have wanted to benefit from your Estate may inherit your Estate.

Your Partner may be left with nothing.

Your Children’s inheritance could pass to the Government Guardian’s Fund or appointed Guardian rather than to a Trust that will ensure your wishes for them are carried out.

Family feuds often occur when family members argue over the distribution of your Estate when final wishes are not clearly documented in a Will.

Winding up your Estate can take years – without a Will appointing a professional Executor, the government is essentially in control of the process.

No, these services are all free of charge.

Trusts and wills are two completely different things. A will is a document that contains your final wishes on how you want your estate to be distributed when you pass away. Your will includes details regarding who will inherit your assets when you pass away. These assets could include your property/ies, cars, jewellery, and investments. Without a will in place, there are no clear instructions as to how you would want your estate to be distributed and so the law of intestate succession will apply. This means that your estate will be distributed by the government.

A Trust is a legal setup where one person holds assets for someone else’s benefit and it can work both while you’re alive and after you pass away, allowing for private and quick asset distribution without court involvement. An example: A trust is set up for your children to manage and protect assets for the benefit of the children until they reach a certain age or meet specific conditions.

Who your beneficiaries, heirs and legatees are: Your will stipulates who will benefit from your estate and what portion of your estate you bequeath (leave) to them.

Whether a testamentary trust should be created for your minor children (known as beneficiaries).

Who the trustees should be if you do require a trust to be set up.

Who the guardians of your minor children should be.

Who the executor of your estate should be.

Your last wishes, such as whether you want to be buried, if you want to be an organ donor, and so on.

If both parents die without a will, the government takes control of their assets through the Intestate Succession Act 81 of 1987. The assets are monetised and put into the Government Guardian’s Fund, which administers the inheritance until the children turn 18. The children’s inheritance is distributed based on family lineage (per stirpes) and representation. The Master of the High Court will also appoint guardians for the minor children. If the children are over 18, they will receive their inheritance from the collective estate of their parents based on family lineage (per stirpes) and representation.

Generally, when someone passes away and leaves (bequeaths) their entire estate to their surviving spouse, no capital gains tax is payable. If the surviving spouse inherits immovable property (a house) in the estate, the estate will not be levied with capital gains tax either. However, if anyone other than the surviving spouse inherits from the estate, then capital gains tax, estate duty and donations tax (if applicable for donations) will have to be paid.

The process of estate administration is governed by the Administration of Estates Act. As part of this process, an executor submits a liquidation and distribution account to the relevant Master of the High Court within six months of receiving the Letter of Executorship. At Pineapple, in partnership with Capital Legacy, the rule of thumb is to try to wind up an estate within 12 to 18 months.

If you do not have a valid will in place at the time of your passing, your assets will be distributed according to state laws. These include the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act, Intestate Succession Act and/or the Children’s Act. The executor of your estate will ensure that your estate is divided according to the Intestate Succession Act, taking into consideration the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act and the Children’s Act, meaning that your estate will be divided per stirpes and by representation.

Items such as current accounts are considered assets and form part of your estate. If you do pass away without assets, your death is noted as per Section 18(3). A will is not just for bequeathing assets (the act of giving or leaving personal property or assets to someone through a will) – it also states your wishes for guardianship of your children if you and your spouse pass away. Even if you don’t have any assets now, your circumstances might change before your death, so it’s still crucial to have a will.

Yes, the executor of a will may be nominated as a beneficiary. This individual will then be entitled to the executor’s fees as is industry standard, as well as their inheritance as specified in the will. For the purposes of answering this question, the term beneficiary/ies refers to the heir/s and legatee/s, as well as the beneficiary/ies of a trust.

Yes, if the deceased has any assets (worth at least R1 000) which need to be administered in line with the Administration of Estates Act 66 of 1965, an estate late bank account will need to be opened.

Estate administration is also called “winding up an estate”. An executor appointed by the Master of the High Court handles the estate after someone dies. If you have been nominated as the executor in someone’s will but lack the expertise to handle the estate, the Master of the High Court might instruct you to use a company or a professional. You can either renounce your role as executor or nominate a professional to act on your behalf under Power of Attorney. It is, therefore, recommended that you nominate a professional in your will to act as executor.