{"id":14038,"date":"2026-09-24T10:38:04","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T08:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dotnewsconnect.co.za\/law\/?p=14038"},"modified":"2026-09-24T10:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T08:38:08","slug":"was-it-even-his-signature-how-to-overturn-a-fraudulent-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dotnewsconnect.co.za\/law\/2026\/was-it-even-his-signature-how-to-overturn-a-fraudulent-will\/","title":{"rendered":"Was it Even His Signature? How to Overturn a Fraudulent Will"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cBeware the wolf in sheep\u2019s clothing.\u201d (From Aesop\u2019s Fables)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Your relative or friend dies, having at the last minute made a new will leaving everything to a new sole heir. You\u2019re suspicious: the deceased was vulnerable, perhaps dying or suffering from dementia, and you\u2019re convinced that they were taken advantage of by a manipulative fraudster. What can you do about it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bad news is that it\u2019s never easy to have a will set aside. Our courts have repeatedly said that they will not do so lightly, and the onus will be on you to prove invalidity. But, as a recent High Court decision illustrates, it can be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sad tale of two wills<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This unhappy saga revolves around the two conflicting wills of a Durban man (a \u201cbubbly, talkative social butterfly\u201d) who died on 8 February 2022, just a day short of his 91st<\/sup> birthday and living in deteriorating mental and physical health in a care home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his earlier will, dated 29 September 2020, he had left everything to five charities. But then on 1 February 2022, just seven days before his death, he supposedly signed a second will in which he revoked all previous wills and named as his sole heir a man who claimed to have become a \u201cson\u201d to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The charities asked the High Court to declare the second will void, and the new heir fought back with a story that he had become like a son to the deceased after supposedly saving him and his wife from a robbery in 2017. It was, he said, no surprise that the deceased had decided to leave everything to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deathbed will set aside<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Court was faced with conflicting evidence from a long list of witnesses for both sides. Its final conclusion? The charities had successfully produced clear evidence that the second will was invalid on the grounds of undue influence and of fraud relating to the signature on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Court identified a litany of inconsistencies, contradictions and improbabilities in the evidence supporting the new heir\u2019s case, concluding that the entire thread of his evidence bore \u201cthe hallmarks of a carefully thought-out plan to take advantage of the vulnerable position of a frail old man who befriended someone at a local department store\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, on the day the deceased was supposed to have voluntarily signed the second will, he was clearly at death\u2019s door, severely distressed and frail, breathless, struggling to speak, confused and unable to feed himself. His mental capacity to sign a will was in great doubt, and a nurse had witnessed the new heir kneeling next to the deceased and trying to get him to sign papers, which the deceased refused to do, shaking his head and saying \u201cno\u201d. To top it all, a handwriting expert suspected elements of forgery in the second will\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No surprise then that the Court declared the deceased\u2019s deathbed will null and void and of no force and effect, leaving the original 2020 will as his last valid will and testament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What you must prove to have a will nullified<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When you challenge the validity of a will the onus will be on you to prove your case, and courts will not lightly set aside a will.  But it can be done, and the Court provided some useful pointers on what you\u2019ll have to prove:<\/p>\n\n\n\n