Get your will drafted free of charge during National Wills Week

POLOKWANE – September 11-15 is National Wills Week, during which participating firms will draft a basic will free of charge for community members.

A will is a legal document that stipulates your wishes after you have passed on.

Review spoke to Magdaleen de Klerk, director at DDKK Attorneys, about your will and the change of your marital status.

“When a couple gets married, one of the last things on their minds is death and wills. Unfortunately, you can be faced with a dilemma if your spouse suddenly passes on.”

According to de Klerk, the golden rule is to, when there are material changes in your life like marriage, children, divorce and even death, revisit your estate planning and bring it up to date with the necessary changes.

“When you get married in South Africa, your marriage is automatically in community of property unless you conclude an antenuptial contract to change this. This means that without an antenuptial contract, all assets and debt incurred before and after the marriage by both spouses will form a joint estate for which both spouses are equally accountable.”

De Klerk says this also limits the freedom of testation of the spouses as the spouses only own 50% of the joint estate and can essentially only deal with 50% of the estate in their will.

“Where spouses do conclude an antenuptial contract to exclude community of property, with or without the accrual system, it again becomes important to factor this into their wills, as the estates could be completely separate or could have claims for accrual that must be considered by the executor.”

It is important for your will to be side-by-side with your antenuptial contract.

Your antenuptial contract and will jointly determine the proprietary consequences of your death and therefore need to be dealt with together when you get married to avoid unforeseen consequences in the event of an untimely death.

“The patrimonial consequences of a marriage are changed by divorce and it is in this pivotal moment again that your will must be updated to reflect your changed circumstances.”

The Wills Act 7 of 1953 in section 2B provides that if you die within three months of the date of divorce, a bequest to your divorced spouse will be deemed cancelled, except where you expressly provide otherwise.

“The result is, it effectively affords a divorcee three months to amend his or her will, failing which your divorced spouse could stand to inherit from your estate as indicated in your will if such is not changed.”

So, remember to not forget about reviewing your will and broader estate planning when there are major changes in your life. For advice or assistance with estate planning, you should contact an estate planning advisor or specialist.

To find out where you can get your free basic will drafted visit www.lssa.org.za.