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Trusts are regulated in terms of the Trust Property Control Act No. 57 of 1988. There are two main types of trusts available in South Africa, namely, an inter vivos trust and a testamentary trust. The main distinction between the two is that an inter vivos trust is established by the founder during his or her lifetime, whereas, a testamentary trust is contained within one’s Will and Last Testament and thus, comes into existence only upon the death of the testator/testatrix.
In order for a Will to be valid, it needs to fulfil all of the statutory requirements contained in section 2(1)(a) of the Wills Act 7 of 1953. Our law only recognises a Will that complies with these requirements. The document must be signed by the testator. If the Will consists of a single page, it must be signed at the end of that page. If the Will consists of more than one page, each page must also be signed by the testator.