Our law views a Will as one of the most important documents that a person will ever sign. In order to prevent fraud and ensure certainty our law prescribes certain strict formalities which must be adhered to in order for a document to be accepted as a valid Will.

Basically, in terms of the Wills Act, passed in 1953, a Will must be:
 *Reduced to writing
* The testator/testatrix (i.e. the person making the Will) must be at least sixteen years of age, and must be mentally capable of appreciating the nature and effect of the act of making a will
 *The will must be signed by both the testator and two competent witnesses. A competent witness is a person aged at least fourteen years, and also having sufficient mental capacity. (The testator can sign by making a mark, such as a cross or a thumb print, but this must be certified by a commissioner of oaths. Witnesses cannot sign by making a mark)
 *The testator and witnesses must all sign in one another’s presence.
 *If the will is more than one page long, then each page must be signed by the testator. It is not essential for the witnesses to also sign each other page, but it is advisable that they should do so.
These formalities are strictly applied and the office of the Master of the High Court, the regulatory official who is tasked with accepting Wills, has no discretion to overlook deviations. There is, however, a “rescue” provision in the Wills Act in that if the High Court is satisfied that a deceased person executed a document while alive which did not meet the formalities (e.g. the witnesses did not sign) but that the person in-tended it to be a Will, then the Court will order the Master’s office to accept the document as a Will de-spite the non-compliance with the formalities.
It follows that in order for a non-compliant “Will” to be accepted by the Master’s office, an application to the High Court must be made – an expensive and time consuming process, and one in respect of which no guarantee of success can be given. It would be far preferable to ensure that your Will complies with the formalities set out in the Wills Act.