Can a Beneficiary / Executor / Guardian / Trustee / Witness / Translator be a Beneficiary / Executor / Guardian / Trustee / Witness / Translator to the Will?

For a Will to be valid, it has to be printed out (in hardcopy) and signed by the Testator in the presence of 2 witnesses. The Testator cannot be under undue influence or fraud and has to acknowledge that the Will accurately reflects his/her wishes. The Will does not become invalidated if a beneficiary/family member/friend is involved in the Will writing process, so long as he/she/they do not exert undue influence or fraud.

This means that technically, any role can also take on another role in your Will (i.e. your beneficiary who is also your guardian, your trustee and your executor in your Will) with only ONE EXCEPTION for the witnesses to the Will:

• Witnesses MUST be at least 21 years old.
• Witnesses MUST NOT be beneficiaries nor the spouses of beneficiaries. The term "beneficiaries" includes all beneficiaries, trust beneficiaries, remainder beneficiaries, and any substitutes for these beneficiaries in the Will.

This means that for whatever role you are appointing someone to be, if he/she is a beneficiary and/or spouse of a beneficiary (including all beneficiaries, trust beneficiaries, remainder beneficiaries, and any substitutes for these beneficiaries in the Will), he/she CANNOT be a witness to the Will as well.

However, if you have genuine concerns over your own involvement or the involvement of a certain individual(s), you can consider:

• excluding the said beneficiary/family member/friend and having another neutral party to accompany/translate/draft the Will; and/or
• invite the person(s) whom the testator has concerns that he/she/they might dispute the Will to the session (to allow the person to personally see and be assured that the testator is not under undue influence or fraud).

Regardless, there is no such thing as an undisputable Will.