While writing a will before death is witnessing an increasing demand in local circles, the Ministry of Justice launched the “Will Documentation” service electronically through the Nages portal, and announced that “Will Documentation” would shorten the time and effort of the beneficiaries, and spare them the need to visit the notaries.
The Ministry of Justice stated that the service is available to all beneficiaries through the Najez portal, and indicated that the service targets the one who made the will on his own behalf and the one who submitted the will by proxy, in addition to the declaration of the heirs of a deceased person through the data of the heirs document.
In order to benefit from the service, the Ministry indicated that it is available on the Najez portal, by selecting the “Will Documentation” service, then submitting the application and authenticating the transmission, then checking the application by the central attribution for documentation, then authenticating the application from the applicant, and having it approved by the notary public, Then the document is issued.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed that the beneficiary can request the cancellation of the approved will at any time through the same system. She explained that the service comes in the context of a complete transformation of documentation services. What makes the beneficiaries need to visit notaries, saving them time and effort.
And “Okaz” monitored the issuance of wills from businessmen, merchants, academics, women, and citizens, and they were deposited in law firms, and testators asked their lawyers not to open the will until after death, in the presence of their family members.
Two witnesses and a handwriting
According to “Okaz” sources, the will is made verbally before the judge, before two notable witnesses, or written by hand, and it is better to document it electronically at the present time after the service provided by the Ministry of Justice. The will may be amended or canceled because it is not obligatory and is not implemented except by death.
The former judge, professor of law at the Faculty of Law at the Founder’s University, Dr. Youssef Ghormallah Al-Ghamdi, explains the will and says: It is a legal and legal approval issued under the well-known terms of approval, the most important of which is the legal and legal capacity that was found to organize and preserve the overlapping rights or that will devolve overlapping, especially in inheritance and inheritance after death, and the will It is of great importance, as it is what is attached to and controlled by a person after death from his money, such as discharging one-third of his debts and loans, as well as giving charity for one-third of his total funds confined after his death, and what he wishes to say after his death to his heirs. loans; As well as disclosing what is known only from his way, such as documents and documents, and so on, which must be indicated, and the commandment has three pillars; The testator and the bequest, which includes the formula, the testator and the beneficiary.
Many quarrels and evils
The basic principle in the will, as Dr. Yusef Al -Ghamdi says, the words of God Almighty, “Write on you when one of you attends the death if you leave the good of the commandment for the parents of God, and the one who is the one who is the one who is true.” Except that his will is written with him.” As for the time of the will, it must be written now and explained, because a person does not know when he will die and move to the afterlife, and through my judicial career – Al-Ghamdi says – I noticed that a person who does not care about the will does not receive good, because he neglected the statement of the obligatory rights, and this negligence resulted. Negligence is a lot of disputes and evils between the heirs and between them and the heirs and rights holders from others. The government has given the judiciary facility, represented by the Ministry of Justice, clear directives for development to keep pace with Vision 2030, especially in the field of completed justice, digitization of information, digital interaction, and activation of artificial intelligence led by Saudi Arabia at the global level.
Is the advice of women valid?
Professor of Law, Dr. Omar Al-Khouli, the owner of the first printed will model in 1407 and finally converted it into an electronic will that he made available to anyone who wishes. He says: From the Prophet’s Sunnah, whoever has money to bequeath to him should write his will as a guarantee to show what he owns of money and what debts he owes and update its information in a timely manner. To ensure that his heirs know his money and property and his rights and obligations with others, and any will written by an individual in his home is considered a customary document that is subject to subsequent examination in the event of appeal, and is considered an argument with all the information contained in it and cannot be contested except by forgery, and it is preferable to witness it.
He explained that writing a will is not limited to the head of the family, but women, wives and children can write their wills whenever they have money to inherit.
Among the benefits of writing a will, according to Dr. Al-Khouli, is the possibility of showing fictitious properties. Such as real estate registered in his name and owned by others, as happens in concealment, or real estate owned by him and written in the names of others; In addition to the possibility that he may have a secret, undeclared wife, or children from another wife, inside or outside the Kingdom, so that the dispute does not occur over him.
Balances in Switzerland
Dr. Omar Al-Khouli explains that, through experiences and coexistences, those who are most interested in writing the will are businessmen and owners of money, and he advises writing the will at any time and at any age, and urges it in circumstances that are dominated by death, such as serious illness and old age. He pointed out that the method of depositing wills with law firms is a method transferred from other countries, as the will is deposited with a trusted lawyer and he is asked to open the will before his heirs and before his family immediately after his death.
Al-Khouli estimates the number of wills editors in Saudi society at about 35-37%, based on field studies and a scientific survey he conducted in conjunction with the 30th anniversary of writing (This is my will). Al-Khouli narrated cases that were heard before the courts related to legacies, whose owners neglected to write their wills or recommended verbally, which led to a delay in dividing the inheritance into long years, which in one case amounted to about 20 years, and this was helped by the presence of 3 wives, half-brothers, real estate, and undeclared investments outside the Kingdom.
Among the evidence followed by Wills in claims related to balances in Swiss banks, investments in islands and resorts in Europe and America, and secret account numbers that the testator did not disclose in his will, nor to his heirs or close friends.
Al-Khouli narrated the story of a businessman who established a company outside the Kingdom with a capital exceeding 70 million dollars, and the share certificates (bearer) were registered, which led to the loss of money after the death of the owner of the company.
Collective short phrases
The former head of the Public Prosecution branch in Jeddah, Counselor Abdullah Muhammad Al-Qarni, stressed that writing a will is a positive matter, and it is a matter of documenting rights and clarifying them so that the testator shows what he has and what he owes, and the principle is that the testator is the one who writes and documents his will. He pointed out that there is no fixed formula for writing the will, and what is common practice is that the will is written by its owner and begins by saying, “This is what so-and-so, son of so-and-so has bequeathed,” or as if he says, “I am the testator for so-and-so, son of so-and-so.”
He added that brevity in the will is required, as well as updating it with everything that has changed in the affairs and life of the testator, and the will begins with its owner with all his data, and the will is for relatives from his family and heirs to be patient and calculate the reward with God – the Almighty – after his death for his separation, and he mentions the debts he owes to others and the rights And he mentions all of that in detail and writes down everything he wishes to write and recommends in brief, inclusive and prohibitive phrases, after him, to perform the rights and not to neglect them. And he may bequeath no more than a third of his money in the face of good, following the order of the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, and indicate his expenditures and the direction of his spending. It is advised to keep one or more copies of the will with a just person from among his relatives or not. To save it, in addition to saving it electronically on the website of the Ministry of Justice, following the new service of the Ministry to document the will electronically.
Secret wives and billions
“Okaz” saw a lawsuit filed by an Arab widow and her son against the heirs of a Saudi millionaire, who said that she secretly married him and bore him a son 25 years ago, and the millionaire kept visiting her and his son in her country, and after his death, the widow communicated with the family of the deceased; Because he has a right to inheritance with his mother, but the family denied the marriage, stressing that the will of the deceased did not include any reference to his secret marriage. In light of this, I went to the courts to prove their right to legal inheritance. In addition to the claim to prove the lineage of her son to the deceased millionaire.
Okaz also learned about a dispute between 8 brothers and sisters after the death of their father, who left companies, real estate, shares, multiple investments, and bank balances abroad, and it was found that some real estate and shares were registered separately between brothers and half-sisters from 3 wives, and each of them is now asking the other for his share. legitimacy of inheritance.
Disputes between heirs
Lawyer Badr Al-Rouqi believes that ignoring the writing of the will may often cause disputes between the heirs and resorting to courts to litigation between members of the same family, which raises division and disagreement. In the electronic will, it is an important step to encourage and urge many to the importance of writing his will, and he may seek the help of an expert or specialist to know the mechanism of the will, its writing, and its elements. Lawyer Al-Rouqi stressed observance of legal and legal principles in writing the will in an ideal manner and method that enables its implementation smoothly without objection from any of the heirs.
Adnan Shabrawi (Jeddah) @Adnanshabrawi