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Administration of Estates Act, 1965 (Act No. 66 of 1965)

Chapter II: Deceased Estates

8. Transmission or delivery of wills to Master and registration thereof

 

1) Any person who has any document being or purporting to be a will in his possession at the time of or at any time after the death of any person who executed such document, shall, as soon as the death comes to his knowledge, transmit or deliver such document to the Master.

 

2) Every person shall, at the expense of the estate and when required by the Master to do so, transmit the original minute of any notarial will passed before him or in his possession, to the Master, and shall at the same time file a certified copy thereof in his protocol and endorse thereon that the original has been transmitted to the Master.

 

3) Any such document which has been received by the Master, shall be registered by him in a register of estates, and he shall cause any such document which is closed to be opened for the purpose of such registration.

 

4) If it appears to the Master that any such document, being or purporting to be a will, is for any reason invalid, he may, notwithstanding registration thereof in terms of subsection (3), refuse to accept it for the purposes of this Act until the validity thereof has been determined by the Court.

 

4A) In taking a decision concerning the acceptance of a will for the purposes of this Act, the Master shall take into account the revocation of a will by a later will, but not the common law presumptions concerning the revocation of a will.

 

4B) The Master may for the purposes of this Act also accept a duplicate of the original will.

 

5) If the Master is satisfied that the person who executed any will transmitted or delivered to him in terms of sub-section (1), has not left any property in the Republic, he may release such will to any person lawfully requiring it for the purpose of liquidating and distributing the estate of the deceased person outside the Republic.