I. Will
Pursuant to prevailing law, “Will means an expression of the wishes of a natural person, made in order to bequeath his or her property to others after his or her death.” A will shall become legally effective from the time of commencement of the inheritance.”
A will must satisfy the following requirements in order to be lawful:
“a) The testator is of sound mind when making the will; without being deceived, threatened or coerced.
b)The contents of the will are not contrary to law or social morals and the will complies with legal formalities.
c) A will made by a person between fifteen and eighteen years of age must be made in writing and with the consent of the parents or guardian of such person.
d) A will made by a person who is incapacitated, or illiterate must be made in writing by a witness and must be notarized or certified.
e) An oral will shall be deemed lawful only if the testator orally expressed his or her last wishes before at least two witnesses who immediately thereafter recorded those wishes in writing and signed or fingerprinted the document. Such will must be notarized or certified within five working days of the date on which the testator orally expressed his or her last wishes.”
A will or apart of a will shall be legally ineffective in any of the following cases:
“a) A body or organization named as an heir no longer exists at the time of commencement of the inheritance.
b) A will shall not be legally effective if the estate left to the heirs no longer exists at the time of commencement of the inheritance. If only part of the estate left to the heirs remains, only that part of the will which relates to such part of the estate shall be legally effective.
c) The estate left to the heirs no longer exists at the time of commencement of the inheritance. If only part of the estate left to the heirs remains, only that part of the will which relates to such part of the estate shall be legally effective.
d) Where a will contains provisions which are unlawful but such provisions do not affect the effectiveness of the remainder of the will, only such provisions shall be legally ineffective.
e) When a person leaves multiple wills over a property, only the last will is valid.”
II. Conditional wills
Case 1: Condition is valid
The condition is valid in case that the condition does not violate the prohibition of law and social morality, requirement of content as well as form of legal sanction.
Case 2: Condition is not valid
Condition recorded in a will is not valid when such condition is contrary to the provisions of law (both in terms of content and form of a legal will), not in accordance with ethical standards or social virtues.
Example: A testator leaves the entire estate to one person provided that he or she is not married before the age of 25. Thus, the condition is not valid because the will violates the principle of freedom to marry.
Consequences when the condition of will is not valid
When the condition of will is not legal, of course the will is not valid. The recipient of the estate can claim the estate without being bound by the testator.
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