Succession Law: Is my Will valid?

A will is a legal document created to provide instructions on how an individual’s property and custody of minor children, if any, should be handled after death.In this article we shall focus on what makes a will valid and cannot be revoked.

 The Law of Succession Act provides certain requirements that must be adhered to in order for a Will to be declared valid. These requirements include:-

1. A will is only valid if, when making the will, the testator is of majority age, 18 years, and is of sound mind under section 5 of the Law of Succession Act (LSA). As a general rule, infants and people of unsound minds are considered incapable of making a will. A will created by a minor is invalid unless the testator re-executes it or makes a new will or codicil that conforms to it upon reaching the age of majority. Section 2 of the Age of Majority Act states that a person is of full age and ceases to be under any disability because of age upon attaining the age of eighteen years
2. Mental or testamentary capacity is a presumption in law that any person making or purporting to make a will is deemed to be of sound mind unless, at the time of execution, their state of mind is affected by mental or physical illness, drunkenness or any other thing that inhibits them from understanding their actions. However, this does not mean that such people are bound to die intestate. The exception to this general rule is that if a person makes a will before his mind becomes afflicted or he makes it during his lucid moments, the will is valid. 
3. The testator has signed the written will. The will must be in writing and signed by the testator. An oral will shall only be valid if it was made less than 3 months before the death of the testator.
4. It must also be signed by at least two witnesses. A witness who is also a beneficiary, should in turn have their signature attested to by 2 other additional independent witnesses (while failure to adhere to this will not affect the validity of the will, it will void the bequest to such a witness).
5. The testator must have free agency, this means that he/she is not induced by fraud, coercion or by such circumstance as to take away the free will of the testator or induced by mistake.