The words in a will, explained simply

Abatement

The R3.5 million tax-free slice of every deceased estate. Estate duty is only worked out on the value above this amount.

Why it matters: it's the reason most ordinary estates pay no estate duty at all.

Accrual system

A marriage arrangement (out of community of property with accrual) where each spouse keeps their own assets, but shares the growth built up during the marriage when it ends, by death or divorce.

Adiation

Formally accepting an inheritance that's been left to you. The opposite of repudiating it.

Administration of Estates Act

The 1965 law that sets out how a deceased estate must be reported, managed and wound up, all under the eye of the Master of the High Court.

Antenuptial contract (ANC)

A contract signed before a marriage that keeps the spouses' estates separate (out of community of property). Without one, a marriage is automatically in community of property.

Beneficiary

Any person or organisation you leave something to in your will.

Bequest

A specific gift left in a will: a named item or a set sum of money. Also called a legacy.

Bond of security

A form of cover that some executors must lodge with the Master to guarantee they'll handle the estate properly. A spouse, parent or child acting as executor is usually exempt, and a will can direct that no security is needed.

Codicil

A short add-on document that changes or adds to an existing will. It must be signed and witnessed with exactly the same care as the will itself.

Commorientes

The tricky situation where two people, often spouses, die in the same event and it's not clear who died first. It can change who inherits, which is why a “simultaneous death” clause is useful.

Deceased estate

Everything a person owns and owes at the moment they die, gathered together so it can be wound up.

Deemed property

Assets that don't pass through the will but are still counted when working out estate duty, for example certain life insurance payouts.

Donations tax

A tax on gifts you make while you're alive. It matters for estate planning because giving during your lifetime can shrink the estate that's taxed at death.

Estate duty

South Africa's tax on the value of a deceased estate. After the R3.5 million abatement, it's charged at 20% (and 25% on value above R30 million). Anything left to a spouse is exempt.

Executor

The person you put in charge of winding up your estate: collecting your assets, paying your debts and distributing what's left. Appointed officially by the Master.

Why it matters: naming a capable executor (and a backup) is what keeps the whole process smooth.

Fideicommissum

An arrangement where an asset goes first to one person, then automatically passes to another named person when a set event happens (such as the first person's death).

Guardian

The person you name in your will to raise your children under 18 if both parents die.

Why it matters: if you don't name one, a court decides, and it may not be who you'd have chosen.

Guardian's Fund

A fund run by the Master that safely holds money for minors and other beneficiaries who can't yet receive it directly, until they're old enough.

Heir

A person who inherits the residue of an estate: what's left after the specific gifts, debts and costs, rather than one particular item.

Intestate

Dying without a valid will. When that happens, the law's fixed formula, not you, decides who inherits.

Intestate Succession Act

The 1987 law that contains that fixed formula for dividing an estate when there's no will (for example, a spouse inherits the greater of a child's share or R250,000).

Joint estate

In a marriage in community of property, the single shared estate that both spouses own equally. Half automatically belongs to the surviving spouse and doesn't pass through the will.

Legacy

A specific gift of money or an item left in a will. The person who receives it is the legatee.

Legatee

The person who receives a specific gift (a legacy) under a will.

Letters of Executorship

The official document the Master issues that gives the executor the legal power to act. Used for estates worth more than R250,000.

Letters of Authority

The simpler authorisation the Master issues for small estates (R250,000 or less), appointing a representative instead of a full executor.

Liquidation and Distribution account (L&D account)

The executor's formal summary of everything in the estate: assets, debts and who gets what. It's advertised and lies open for the public to inspect.

Living will

A document about your medical wishes if you can't speak for yourself while you're still alive (such as life support). It is not a will and has nothing to do with inheritance: the two are kept separate.

Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act

A law that lets a surviving spouse claim reasonable maintenance from the deceased's estate where they can't support themselves.

Marriage in community of property

The default marriage in South Africa (unless you sign an ANC): the spouses' assets and debts merge into one joint estate, owned equally.

Master of the High Court

The government office that oversees deceased estates, appointing executors, checking accounts and protecting the interests of heirs and minors.

Minor

A person under 18. A minor can't legally manage an inheritance, so it's held for them until they come of age.

Nomination of beneficiary

Naming someone to receive a life policy or retirement fund directly. These payouts often fall outside your will and follow their own rules, so they're worth checking separately.

Why it matters: your retirement fund and policies may not go where your will says: keep their nominations up to date too.

Per capita

Dividing an inheritance equally "by head": each surviving beneficiary gets an equal share.

Per stirpes

Dividing an inheritance "by branch" of the family, so that a deceased child's share passes down to their own children instead of disappearing.

Predecease

To die before someone else, for example a beneficiary who dies before the person who made the will.

Repudiate

To formally refuse an inheritance left to you. The share then passes on as if you weren't there to receive it.

Residue

Everything left in an estate once the specific gifts, debts and costs have been settled. It goes to the residuary heirs.

Residuary heir

The person (or people) who inherit the residue: the "everything else" of an estate.

Revocation

Cancelling a will or part of it, by destroying it, or by signing a new will that replaces the old one.

Section 2(3) condonation

A court process that can rescue a will which didn't follow the formal rules, if a judge is satisfied the person genuinely meant it to be their will. It happens after death, costs money and isn't guaranteed, which is why doing it properly the first time matters.

Simultaneous death clause

A clause that says what should happen if you and a beneficiary die together and the order of death is unclear (see commorientes).

Testamentary trust

A trust created by your will to hold and manage assets, most often for young children, and release them on terms you set, rather than as a lump sum at 18.

Testate

Dying with a valid will (the opposite of intestate).

Testator / Testatrix

The person who makes a will. "Testatrix" is the older term for a female will-maker.

Trustee

The person or company that looks after a trust's assets and uses them for the beneficiaries, following the trust's rules.

Usufruct

The right to use and benefit from an asset, for instance to live in a house or earn rent from it, for life, even though someone else owns it. A common way to provide for a spouse while leaving the asset to the children.

Will

The legal document that sets out who inherits your assets, who cares for your children, and who winds up your estate after you die.

Witness

One of the two independent people (aged 14 or older) who watch you sign your will and then sign it themselves to confirm it. Witnesses shouldn't be beneficiaries.