Who Inherits If You Have No Will and No Spouse?
Dying without a valid will doesn’t mean your estate goes to the state. In South Africa, it means the Intestate Succession Act 81 of 1987 takes over and distributes your estate for you, according to a fixed order of priority. That order does not ask what you would have wanted, but it simply works down […]
High Court Validates Electronic Will of Late Constitutional Court Justice
In an important judgment that addresses the intersection of modern technology and traditional legal formalities, the Northern Cape High Court in Kimberley has ordered the Master of the High Court to accept an electronically signed will as the valid last will and testament of the late Constitutional Court Justice Mokgoro. Justice Mokgoro, who passed away […]
The Omission of a Single Word Can Lead to a Will Being Contested
The contents of an “inelegant and very badly drafted” will were recently the subject of a dispute in the South Gauteng High Court, in the matter Strauss vs Strauss and Others. The plaintiff instituted action claiming that the joint will of his parents not only made provision for the situation where they died within 30 […]