Every September, South Africans are reminded of the importance of drafting a will. It’s important and good advice. But for working professionals who already have a signed will and established financial structures in place, the question is no longer simply “do you have a will?” It’s where does your will live?
Is it sitting in a drawer you haven’t opened in years? With your financial adviser? In a filing cabinet at home? Does your family know where to find it if they need it? And perhaps most importantly, does it still reflect the reality of your household today?
Having a signed will can create a sense that the job is done. The box is ticked, they reassure themselves, and life goes on. But a will is not a static document to write once and file away. Your family, finances, relationships, assets, and responsibilities change. Your estate plan needs to keep up.
Because the real question isn’t just whether you have a will. It is whether the right people can find it, whether they know what to do with it, and whether it still tells the right story about your life.
Does Somebody Know Where You Keep Your Will?
When an unexpected life event occurs, having a valid will is only half the battle. In a crisis, practical accessibility matters too.
Consider the following:
- Where is the original document stored? Is it locked in a safe at home, kept at an attorney’s office, or lodged with a financial institution?
- Is it up to date and legally accessible? Does it account for your current assets, debt obligations, and family dependencies?
- Who knows where to find it? If something happens to you tomorrow, does your family – or the person you named as executor – know who to contact or where the original signed document is kept?
A valid will that cannot be located creates immediate administrative friction, delays claim payouts, and leaves grieving relatives navigating legal uncertainty during an already distressing time.
The Danger of Financial Drift
Something else to consider is the risk of financial drift. This occurs when your financial plan is still executing the exact instructions you provided years ago, but those instructions no longer reflect who you are today. A will, a beneficiary nomination form, or an estate structure built a decade ago was designed around a specific version of your life.
Ordinary life changes such as getting married, welcoming a child, buying property, starting a business, taking on care for ageing parents, or navigating a divorce all fundamentally alter your financial responsibilities.
A will drafted before children existed, for instance, says nothing about guardianship or testamentary trust provisions for minors. While that document may remain technically valid in the eyes of the law, it becomes structurally out of step with the people who actually depend on you.
The Call That Defines Advice, the 9 O’Clock Client
Knowing where your will lives matters because, when something unexpected happens, someone else may suddenly need to find it. The 9 o’clock client is not calling for a routine policy update during office hours. They are the spouse, adult child, or family member who calls an adviser when life has suddenly gone off course. Something unexpected has happened, and they aren’t asking about interest rates or policy terms. They are asking if they are going to be okay.
That phone call reveals the true measure of financial advice. The answer to that question depends on conversations held long before the crisis.
Your financial adviser should be one of the very first calls made when a major life milestone occurs, not just when you want to review an investment return or adjust an insurance premium. A trusted adviser looks beyond individual products to understand the entire household context. They connect the dots between your will, your risk cover, your business interests, and your family’s daily living expenses.
Moving Beyond the Checklist
An estate plan is not an administrative chore to complete once and forget. It’s an evolving strategy built on honest conversations.
This National Wills Week, move beyond simply checking off the administrative box. Reach out to your financial adviser, locate your will, and ensure that the person on the receiving end of that 9 o’clock call knows exactly how to protect the people you love most.
Written by Walter Combrink, Life Risk and Fiduciary Manager, Momentum Financial Planning.