Registration open for National Wills Week 2021
The Law Society would like to let legal practitioners know that registration for this year’s National Wills Week initiative is open. Please consider registering to participate. National Wills Week will be held from 13 to 17 September 2021, and registrations close on Friday, 9 July 2021.
National Wills Week is now an established highlight among the profession’s social outreach and access to justice initiatives. This is thanks to the thousands of attorneys who participate by giving generously of their time and skills. Wills Week has also attracted increasing coverage in the media as well as support from major stakeholders.
The aim of the Wills Week campaign is twofold:
- to position attorneys as the premier providers of wills and estates services to the public, and to improve the image of the profession generally; and
- to encourage members of the public who would not normally make use of the services of an attorney, or who may hesitate to approach an attorney, to consult an attorney to have a basic will drafted.
How does Wills Week work?
Your firm will be provided with free, trilingual posters in the language combination of your choice to publicise your participation. Provision is made on the posters for your firm’s contact details.
Your firm will be listed as a participating firm on the database of participating firms on the Law Society of South Africa website.
A national media campaign will be launched early in August. All media and publicity material will invite members of the public to consult the LSSA website for the contact details of participating firms.
What is expected from you as a participating firm?
- Basic wills will be drawn up free of charge.
- You should provide an explanation of the importance of having a properly and professionally drafted will to the client.
- You may not insist that you are appointed as the executor of the estate.
- You must give the client a copy of his/her will.
- You will not be expected to redraft or amend existing wills for free, nor will you be expected to draft complex wills involving trusts, etc.
