Jeff Matthee, well-known semi-retired East Rand attorney, spoke to members of the University of the Third Age (U3A) on April 18 at the Northmead Tennis Club.
Matthee spoke about the importance of drawing up a will.
“If you die without a will, your assets will be wound up intestate,” he said.
Intestate means the state determines what happens to your belongings.
READ:
Jeff Matthee educates Garland ladies on legal matters
Matthee advised that people should get a professional, or an executor, to draw up a will for them as opposed to the doing it themselves.
“Your will needs to be wound up by a qualified executor,” he said.
Matthee said you need two witnesses to be present when you sign your will.
“You have no restrictions as to who you will appoint as your heir,” he said.
“Everything is 100 per cent confidential and stays between you and the executor.”
If the heir happens to be a minor, a trust has to be created in the will, which the heir will have access to once they turn a legal age.
“If a trust is not set up, the estate goes into the guardian fund that is controlled by the state,” he said.
According to Matthee, executors are bound by the law to not reveal anything relating to a person’s will.
The wounding up of an estate can be a lengthy process because there is a lot of admin to get through.
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