Where There is Will There Is A Way

Where There is a Will There Is A Way

COVID-19 HAS SEEN MANY OF US LOSE PRECIOUS MEMBERS OF OUR FAMILY AND COMMUNITY TO THIS INVISIBLE ENEMY.

While we can’t control 3. The signature must be the loss of life, we made in the presence of two can ensure that the people competent witnesses. The we leave behind are cared law stipulates that a person for financially. is not allowed to inherit from

Covid-19 has forced us someone if they wrote any to revisit a very unpleaspart of the will in their own ant place in our lives - who handwriting or if they sign will inherit from our estates as a witness. That means when we pass on? Now is that if your family members the time to amend your will act as witnesses, they canthrough a codicil or draft a not be your beneficiaries. will setting out your wishes So, you’ll need to find two and division of your assets. other witnesses.

The Fiduciary Institute of 4. The witnesses must Southern Africa (FISA) has attest and sign the will in made an urgent submisthe presence of the testator/ sion to the Department of testatrix and of each other. Justice and Constitutional 5. If the will consists of Development to consider more than one page, each having the drafting and expage other than the page on ecution of a will declared an which it ends must be signed essential service under the anywhere on the page by the lockdown regulations. We testator/testatrix. are still to see a movement While the Electronic Comon this as yet. munications and Transac

Let’s take a look at what tions Act (ECTA), 25 of 2002, you need to do to execute a gives electronic signatures valid will: some legal force, it doesn’t 1. All wills must be in have any power over the writing. Wills Act. 2. The signature of the The law in South Africa is testator/testatrix must be at governed by the Wills Act, the end of the will. Sign7 of 1953. This is outdated ing includes the making of legislation which has worked a ‘mark’ (by a person who to some extent but with the cannot sign his or her name) global pandemic we desire a duly certified as such by a digital approach. The execucommissioner of oaths. tion of wills has not kept up with technological advances and it is evident that the time has come for South Africa to take the lead in amending our law to deal with the digitised modern era.

By encompassing the use of technology and legally recognising e-signatures as a way to validate Last Wills and Testaments, this could make it easier for more South Africans to provide financial security to their families, protect their legacies and plan for their futures in a very uncertain time.

In countries like Australia, the demand for wills has soared and in March alone a 300% spike in demand was recorded as a result of Covid-19.

Covid-19 has made the world do business differently and has opened the doors for the primary use of digitisation globally. South Africa can be a disruptor in this unprecedented time and move towards E-wills where clients can respond positively to the process. This would certainly be more effective for clients if they were able to update their wills using an electronic signature and witnesses could add their signatures to the document digitally, using secure digital signing…

The world is shifting, shaking and shaping into a new digital era and its time South Africa caught up. By Ugeeta Pala, Attorney and Mediator at Ugeeta Pala & Associates, 071096 5966, ugeeta@pala.co.za.