INTRODUCTION

This assignment will give give legal advice to Mr. Beenzu with aid of authority both
statutory and Zambian case law. As to who is the rightful person to administer the
estate of the deceased Mr chisamu.

Estate means all the assets and liabilities of a deceased, including those accruing to him by virtue of
death or after his death.1

But according to the Intestate Succession Act 2,an estate means all the assets and liabilities of a
deceased, including those accruing to him by virtue of death or after his death and for the purposes of
administration of the estate under part III includes personal chattels.

The estate of a deceased person can either be administered by a Wills and Administration of Testate
Estates Acts3 were a testator writes a valid Will or the Intestate Succession Act 4where there is no Will.
According to the Wills and Administration of Testate Estates Act a testator means a person who has
made a valid Will.

Thus, A Will according to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary 5 is a legal document that allows
somebody to legally state what should happen to their assets after death. In other words, it is to
formally give property and possessions to somebody after one has died.

Characteristics of a valid Will

According to section 6 (1) of the Wills and Administration of Testate Estates Act[7]Cap.60 of the Laws of
Zambia, it states that:- A Will shall be valid if:

a) it is in writing

b) Is signed at the foot or end, by the testator or by some other person in the testator’s presence and his
direction; andc) The signature referred to in paragraph (a) is made or acknowledge by the testator in the
presence of two witnesses present at the same time who have also signed at the foot or end of the Will

1
The Wills and Administration of Testate Estate Act Cap 60 of the Laws of Zambia

2
The Intestate Succession Act Cap 59 of the Laws of Zambia.

3
Ibid

4
Ibid

5
Oxford Advanced Leaner’s Dictionary
(2) Any person who is not blind and is of sound mind may be a witness to a will.

(3) Where the testator is blind or illiterate, any person competent to make a will and who has not
participated in the making of the will, shall carefully read over and explain to him the contents of the will
before it is executed and shall declare in writing upon the will that he had to read over and explained its
contents to the testator and that the testator appeared perfectly to understand it before it was
executed.

Subject to subsection (3) of Section 6 of the Wills Act provides that any person who is not a minor and is
of sound mind may make a Will. The Wills and Administration of Testates Estate Act defines “minor” as a
person who has not yet attained the age of 18 years.

Powers of the Testator

Section (5) of the Wills and Administration of Testate Estates Act Cap. 60 states that the powers of the
testator are to:-

Dispose of any property which is his or to which he will be entitled at the time of his death or to which
he may be entitled thereafter;

Appoint one or more persons to be his executor or executors;

Subject to the Trust Restrictions Act attach any terms and conditions in relation to the disposition of any
part of his estate; or

Appoint a guardian for his minor child where the surviving parent of the minor child is incapable, by
physical or mental infirmity, to take guardianship of the minor child”.

According to the Wills and Administration of Testate Estates Act Cap 60, an executor means a person to
whom the administration of the estate of a testator or part of it is entrusted by express or implied
appointment. Further, Section 25 of the Act states any person of, or above, the age twenty-one years
and having capacity to enter to a contract may be appointed an executor of a Will.

Duties of an executor

the duties of an executor include the following:-

 To collect and receive assets of the deceased person;

 Pay the debts of that deceased person; and

  Distribute the surplus to those who may be entitled.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, any written document duly executed in accordance with the requirements of the law,
relating to Wills, with evidence that the intention of the writer state how his or her estate should be
handled then in the event of death then it will be accepted as Will.

When all the requirements of a Will are met by the testator, then the Will is considered to be valid and it
can be executed.

If the lawyers fail to prove as to the validity of the will, Section 15(1) of the Act states that where the
deceased had died intestate the court may, on the application of any interested person, grant letters of
administration of the estate to that interested person.

Thus, the benefits of dying whilst written a valid Will by the deceased are; The testator can choose an
executor to administer the estate, Deceased’s wishes are carried out over the estate, and Testator
chooses the beneficiaries of the estate.

Thus, the lawyers need to produce the entire full document of the will, once proved to be valid the
estate will be administered in accordance with the will.

Dying with a Will implies that a testator write valid instructions on how his property should be
administered by an executor. A Will speaks from death as regards all property comprised in it unless a
contrary intention appears. Will is therefore, capable of disposing all property owned by the testator at
his death even if he acquired such property after making a Will. Dying without a Will show that a person
died without leaving instructions as to how his property should be handled after death and the law will
govern on how the estate should be administered by the administrator.

In order to administer the estate of the deceased person, the Wills and Administration of Testate Estates
Act and the Intestate Succession Act have been enacted.

Thus, Mr Beenzu is the rightful person to administer the estate of Mr Chisamu because these
instructions where clearly stated in the will and it was the intention of the testator for his property to be
administered by Mr mweemba, but unfortunately as clearly stated mr mweemba couldn't administer
the assets of the deceased due to his death, thus his replacement was Mr Beenzu.

Thus, Mr. Peter of Peter and Associates wants to take up probate and start administering the estate of
the deceased his role according to the deceased instructions was to merely assist the executors.

Thus in this case he is intermeddling, Intermeddling occurs where a person handles the deceased’s
assets and/or holds themselves out as an executor. There is no formal test for what constitutes
intermeddling, but the threshold is not high. For examples where the court has found intermeddling,
was in the case of Holder v Holder and Re Stevens.6

Mr Beenzu since he is the rightful appointed executor in the scenario, he will be required to apply to
court for the grant of probate letters which once granted, empower the executor to carry out the wishes
of the testator as expressed in the will.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books cited

Jones, Harvey (15 February 2013). "Dealing with probate in 2013". The Guardian. Retrieved 19
September 2017.

Collinson, Patrick (21 September 2013). "Probate: avoid a final rip-off when sorting out your loved one's
estate". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 September 2017.

Gloag and Henderson (2017). The Law of Scotland (14th ed.). W. Green. p. 1130.
6
[1968] Ch 353
Simes, Lewis M. (1945). "Administration of a Decedent's Estate As a Proceeding in Rem". Michigan Law
Review. 43 (4): 675–704. doi:10.2307/1283439. JSTOR 1283439. Retrieved 24 September 2019.

Cases Cited

Holder v Holder [1968] Ch 353

Statutes Cited

The Intestate Succession Act Cap 59 of the Laws of Zambia.

Wills and Administration of Testate Estates Act, 1989 (Chapter 60)