Why you need a will

BEWARE: AVOID GOING TO A BANK OR INSTITUTION TO GET IT DONE 'FREE'

- Dawn Ridler

• If you don't have one, then the 'intestate laws of succession' apply.

At this time of year, I get a flurry of inquiries from my clients checking up on their wills—probably because they are traveling and there is an increased risk of an event, or maybe they are just tidying things up before the year-end.

I take a holistic approach to my practice, and often, one of my first questions is, "Where is your will?" Please send me a copy. For those who aren't my clients, I have put together a (free) will checklist that you just have to e-mail me to receive. It covers broad issues and identifies whether you need to get a professional to have a relook.

If you don't have a will, then the intestate laws of succession will apply and could well be far removed from your wishes. In South Africa, wills have to be lodged, certified, or notarized, but this is not necessarily true of your offshore assets. In the Channel Islands, for example, you must have a separate will for that location and appoint a probate officer (at additional expense).

'Free' will

The worry about the cost of drawing up a will often leads South Africans to go for a bank or other institution's "free" will—or even worse, download a template from the internet. You know that there's never a "free lunch," right?

Those financial institutions have a very important caveat for doing that "free will"—they insist on being the executor. Those internet templates? If you go through the checklist, you'll see exactly what those pitfalls are.

If you really can't spare the R1 000 odd to get a properly structured will where an institution is not the executor—guess where you can get a decent template, change the executor and make the previous will null and void? (Remember to cancel the "safe keeping" fee too).