The Will is a unilateral act that is delayed until death occurs. It transfers the ownership of a property to the beneficiary. In order for the Will to be valid, it shall not be sinful, its motivation shall not be contrary to the purposes of the legislator, the testate shall be eligible to donate, and does not owe a debt that covers all his estate, as the fulfillment of the debt has priority over the execution of the will.
It is also required that the legatee be specified and eligible for ownership and that the legacy in question shall be inheritable and exist at the time of concluding the Will, in case that such legacy is specific.
The Will is required, by virtue of the concerned law, to be of a specific amount in order to prevent disputes between its beneficiaries and the other heirs. Accordingly, a value of 1/3 (one-third) has been estimated for the heirs. In the event that the Will exceeds the pre-mentioned value, the collective consent/approval of all the heirs is required. As such, the testate may not violate such condition, otherwise, his behavior shall be considered an act of aggression against the private ownership of each heir in their rightful inheritance, as such act by the testate would be in violation of Article (35) of the Constitution, which guarantees the right of inheritance as one of the reasons for acquiring the ownership.
The law did not require a specific form for Will's validity. Rather, the Will is considered to be valid by verifying all factors that indicate the person's will to conclude an action, whether by verbal expression, writing or by sign language. However, the legislator stipulated that in case of challenging the Will, the challenge will not be heard unless the Will is issued on an official or customary paper where the signature of the testate is certified, or issued on a customary paper which's written and signed by the testate's handwriting.
Furthermore, the Will may be dated or undated, as the absence of a date in the Will does not affect its validity. However, the legislator considered the heir as a third party in the event that the Will of his testate was issued during a terminal disease period. Hence, the heir shall be entitled to challenge the Will and prove his objections by all means of proof.
It is worth mentioning that the Will is not required to be registered with the real estate registry, even though it's the strongest method to prove the validity of the Will. However, it is not one of its pillars, nor a condition for its validity. Rather, as soon as the testator dies, the heirs, as representatives of the inheritance, shall have personal obligations in this regard, including but not limited to, delivering the inheritable property to the concerned beneficiaries and commit not to interfere with it. The heir is not entitled to claim ownership of the heritable property in this case.
To Conclude, this article aims to highlight that the right of inheritance is a constitutionally guaranteed right, which must be transferred to the actual beneficiaries according to their shares in the legacy without any diminution. The testator does not have the right to allocate to one of his heirs a share that will infringe upon the right of others in the same estate outside the share in which the Will is permissible.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
