Making a Valid Will in South Africa: The Wills Act Formalities (2026)

A will is only as good as its compliance with a short list of formal requirements set out in the Wills Act 7 of 1953. Miss one, and the document intended as a will can fail entirely, leaving the estate to be distributed under the intestate succession rules instead.

Information last verified on 23 July 2026. This page provides general legal information about South African wills and estates law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.

The Signature and Witness Formalities

Section 2(1)(a) of the Wills Act sets out four requirements for a valid will:

1. The will is signed at the end by the testator, or by someone else in the testator's presence and at the testator's direction.
2. That signature is made, or acknowledged, in the presence of two or more competent witnesses, present at the same time.
3. The witnesses then attest and sign the will, in the presence of the testator and of each other.
4. If the will runs to more than one page, each page other than the last is also signed by the testator, anywhere on the page.

The rule most people get wrong: the witnesses do not need to sign every page. Only the testator signs each page other than the last. The witnesses' job is to attest and sign the will once, on the last page, in the presence of the testator and of each other, at the same sitting. The Master of the High Court's own guidance confirms this directly: although the testator must sign all the pages of the will, only the last page needs to be signed by the witnesses.

Who Can Witness a Will

A "competent witness" is defined in section 1 as anyone aged 14 years or over who, at the time of witnessing, is not incompetent to give evidence in a court of law. There is no separate list of disqualifying relationships for acting as a witness at all; the disqualification that matters is a different one, covered next, and it affects what a witness can inherit, not whether they can witness the will in the first place.

The Witness-Beneficiary Trap

Section 4A disqualifies a person, and their spouse, from receiving any benefit under a will if that person attested and signed the will as a witness, signed it in the testator's presence and at the testator's direction, or wrote out the will (or part of it) in their own handwriting. This catches a common mistake: asking a beneficiary, or their spouse, to witness the will they stand to benefit from.

There are three exceptions, and any one of them can save a disqualified benefit:

• A court can declare the person, or their spouse, competent to receive the benefit after all, if satisfied that neither of them defrauded or unduly influenced the testator in connection with the execution of the will.
• If the disqualified person, or their spouse, would in any event have inherited that amount, or less, under the intestate succession rules had the testator died without a will, the disqualification does not apply beyond that intestate share.
• If the will was also attested and signed by at least two other competent witnesses who do not stand to benefit from it at all, the disqualification falls away.

Nominating someone as executor, trustee or guardian counts as a "benefit" both for the disqualification itself and for the first and third exceptions above, but not for the second, intestate-share, exception, a precise distinction worth keeping in mind if a will's executor is also one of its witnesses.

Who Can Make a Will: Capacity

Section 4 allows anyone aged 16 or over to make a will, unless they are mentally incapable, at the time of making it, of appreciating the nature and effect of what they are doing. The burden of proving incapacity rests on whoever alleges it, not on the person who made the will or their estate. This means a will stands unless a challenger can actually show the testator lacked the required understanding at the relevant time.

Amending a Will: Codicils

An existing will can be amended, most commonly by a codicil, a separate document that adds to or changes specific provisions. The formalities for an amendment mirror those for the will itself: an identifying signature, made or acknowledged in front of two or more competent witnesses present together, who then attest and sign. A codicil does not need to be signed by the same witnesses who signed the original will, and amending a will does not require the original witnesses to sign again.

When the Formalities Are Missed: Condonation

Section 2(3) gives a court power to order the Master to accept a document that does not comply with all the formalities as a valid will, if the court is satisfied the deceased, since died, intended that document to be their will. This is a court application, not an automatic fix, and it exists precisely because the formal requirements above are strict enough that genuine drafting or signing mistakes do happen.

Marriage and Divorce: What Changes an Existing Will

Getting married does not revoke an existing will. The Wills Act contains no provision treating marriage as an event that cancels a will made beforehand, so an earlier will remains valid after the testator marries, unless the testator changes it.

Divorce is different, but only within a narrow window. Section 2B provides that if the testator dies within three months after a divorce or annulment, and had executed the will before that dissolution, the will is implemented as though the former spouse had died before the marriage ended, unless the will itself shows the testator intended to benefit the former spouse regardless of the divorce. Outside that three-month window, an existing bequest to a former spouse stands as written, so a will should be reviewed and updated after a divorce rather than left to this narrow statutory fallback.

Practical Points: Storage and Review

A will is only useful if it can be found and produced when needed. Keep the original safe, commonly with the Master of the High Court, a bank, or the attorney who drafted it, and tell your executor or a close family member where it is kept; a lost original can create real difficulty for an estate. Review a will after any major life event: marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, the death of an heir or executor named in it, or a significant change in assets. None of these events, other than divorce within the narrow three-month window above, changes a will automatically, so an out-of-date will remains legally binding until it is replaced or revoked.

Related Reading

For what happens once a valid will exists and its maker dies, see winding up a deceased estate. For what happens if there is no valid will at all, see intestate succession. The wills and estates section and the South Africa Laws hub link the wider site.

This guide is general legal information, not legal advice. For advice on your own situation, consult an attorney, or contact Legal Aid South Africa (0800 110 110) if you cannot afford one.