Dying Without A Will

WHAT to do when loved one dies without a will.

- Vanessa Papas

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Martin Luther King Jr, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Kurt Cobain, Tupac Shakur, Barry White, Amy Winehouse and Prince are among a few celebrities who died without a will. We all know death is a part of life; why then do so many people put off writing a will until it’s too late?

“Dying without a will is called ‘dying intestate’. With no will indicating who should benefit from your estate, a law exists which dictates who will be entitled to inherit from the intestate estate,” explains Christel Botha, Alexander Forbes Fiduciary services manager. “This law is called the Intestate Succession

Act and sets out certain default rules as to who will inherit from the deceased estate and in what proportions. The appointment of an executor is also not that easy in this case. Where there is no will to nominate an executor, the court will have to determine whether any of the nextof-kin qualifies to take up the appointment. Currently the law prescribes that only a spouse, child or parent of the deceased may take up the appointment without dispensing security to the Master.”