CAPACITY
Persons capable of making wills and freedom of testation.Any person who is of sound mind and not a minor may dispose of all or any of his free property by will,and may thereby make any disposition by reference to any secular or religious law that he chooses.A female person, whether married or unmarried, has the same capacity to make a will as does a male person.Any person making or purporting to make a will shall be deemed to be of sound mind unless he is, at the time of executing the will, in such a state of mind, whether arising from mental or physical illness, drunkenness, or from any other cause, as not to know what he is doing.The burden of proof that a testator was, at the time he made any will, not of sound mind, shall be upon the person who so alleges.
FORMS OF WILLS
A will may be made either orally or in writing.
ORAL WILLS
Validity of oral wills-Before a will can take effect, it must first be proved that it is valid.
No oral will shall be valid unless -
(a) it is made before two or more competent witnesses; and
(b) the testator dies within a period of three months from the date of making the will
No oral will shall be valid if, and so far as, it is contrary to any written will which the testator has made, whether before or after the date of the oral will, and which has not been revoked.
Proof of oral wills-If there is any conflict in evidence of witnesses as to what was said by the deceased in making an oral will, the oral will shall not be valid except so far as its contents are proved by a competent independent witness.
WRITTEN WILLS
Validity of oral wills-No written will shall be valid unless -
(a) the testator has signed or affixed his mark to the will, or it has been signed by some other person in the presence and by the direction of the testator;
(b) the signature or mark of the testator, or the signature of the person signing for him, is so placed that it shall appear that it was intended thereby to give effect to the writing as a will;
(c) the will is attested by two or more competent witnesses, each of whom must have seen the testator sign or affix his mark to the will, or have seen some other person sign the will, in the presence and by the direction of the testator, or have received from the testator a personal acknowledgement of his signature or mark, or of the signature of that other person; and each of the witnesses must sign the will in the presence of the testator, but it shall not be necessary that more than one witness be present at the same time, and no particular form of attestation shall be necessary.
REVOCATION OF A WILL
A will can only be revoked by another will or codicil declaring an intention to revoke it, or by the burning, tearing or otherwise destroying of the will with the intention of revoking it by the testator, or by some other person at his direction.A written will cannot be revoked by an oral will.
REVIVAL OF A WILL
A will which has been wholly revoked cannot be revived otherwise than by the re-execution.