Estate Planning for Millennials in South Africa: Why Your Generation Can’t Afford to Wait

You’re thirty-something, you’ve got a job, maybe a flat, perhaps a car on finance. You’re building something. But a will? That’s for people in their sixties, surely. Or for those with sprawling estates and multiple properties.

 Here’s what we’ve learned after years of helping South African families navigate deceased estates: the millennials who come to us now—proactively, before crisis strikes—are the ones who understand something fundamental. Estate planning isn’t about age or wealth. It’s about protecting the people and things that matter to you, in a world that’s changed dramatically from the one your parents navigated.

Your generation faces unique challenges and opportunities that previous generations simply didn’t encounter. You’re the first to build significant wealth in digital assets and online businesses. You’re dealing with blended families, unmarried partnerships, and modern family structures that require careful planning to ensure everyone you love is protected. You’re caring for young children and ageing parents simultaneously—the so-called “sandwich generation”—whilst trying to build your own financial security.

We believe in family. Yours and ours. And we understand that your estate planning needs look different from those of the generations before you. Let’s talk about why getting this right matters, and how to approach it in a way that actually fits your life.

The South African Millennial Journey: From Recession to Recovery

If you were born between 1981 and 1996, you’re part of South Africa’s millennial generation—currently the largest demographic cohort in the country. In 2025, you’re between 29 and 44 years old, and your financial journey has been anything but straightforward.

The oldest millennials were entering university or starting careers just as the 2008 global financial crisis hit South Africa hard. The economy contracted, unemployment soared, and many young South Africans found themselves graduating with university debt into a job market that had essentially frozen. Property prices in Johannesburg and Cape Town fluctuated wildly, making homeownership feel impossible for many. Traditional milestones—buying property, getting married, having children, building retirement savings—got delayed not by choice but by economic necessity.

You were told that a university degree was the pathway to financial security, so you took on student debt through NSFAS or private loans. Many of you then faced years of financial struggle, working multiple jobs or side hustles just to make ends meet whilst trying to build something stable.

But here’s what’s changed in the past decade and a half. South African millennials have matured financially and professionally. You’re now established in your careers, many in senior positions. You’ve accumulated assets—property in Sandton or Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard, retirement annuities, investment portfolios, perhaps equity in a business. Your net worth has grown substantially, even if it doesn’t always feel that way when you’re managing bond repayments and childcare costs.

And something else is happening. South Africa is experiencing the beginning of what financial planners call the “great wealth transfer.” As the silent generation and baby boomers age and pass away, significant wealth—property, businesses, investments, family farms in the Free State or KwaZulu-Natal—will transfer to younger generations over the next two decades. Many millennials will inherit assets from parents or grandparents, adding to wealth they’ve built themselves.

This convergence—your own accumulated wealth plus anticipated inheritances—means that South African millennials are becoming a demographic that absolutely needs proper estate planning, often without realising it.

Why South African Law Makes Estate Planning Even More Critical

South Africa’s legal framework around deceased estates is specific, and whilst recent Constitutional Court developments have recognised unmarried life partners, relying on intestate succession remains risky and uncertain for modern families.

The Intestate Succession Act 81 of 1987 determines exactly who inherits what when you die without a will. If you’re married in community of property and have children, your spouse inherits a child’s share or R250,000—whichever is greater. The rest is divided equally among your children. If you’re married out of community of property with accrual, your spouse gets R250,000 or half the estate, whichever is greater. That R250,000 threshold hasn’t been adjusted for inflation in years—it’s woefully inadequate when you consider what a Cape Town or Johannesburg property alone is worth.

For unmarried couples, the legal position has evolved significantly but remains uncertain. Following the landmark Bwanya v Master of the High Court Constitutional Court judgment in December 2021, the definition of “spouse” was declared unconstitutional for excluding unmarried life partners. The court ruled that partners in a permanent life partnership with reciprocal duties of support should be recognised for inheritance purposes. However, Parliament was given time to amend the legislation, and as of 2025, that process remains incomplete.

This creates several critical issues for unmarried millennial couples. The legal framework is in transition, meaning uncertainty about how estates will be administered. You’d need to prove you were in a “permanent life partnership” with “reciprocal duties of support”—a burden placed on your grieving partner at the worst possible time. The exact share your partner would inherit under intestate succession remains unclear during this transition. Different Masters of the High Court might interpret and apply the judgment differently, creating regional inconsistencies.

The bottom line is this: even with progressive Constitutional Court developments, unmarried partners face legal complexity and uncertainty that married couples simply don’t. If you’re in a long-term relationship without being married—whether by choice or because you’re saving for lobola and a wedding you can actually afford—a will is absolutely essential to ensure your partner is protected according to your wishes, not according to evolving legal interpretations.

And here’s something many South African millennials don’t realise: if you have minor children and die without a will, the Master of the High Court decides who raises them. You might assume it’s automatic—that your sister or your parents will step in—but without clear written instructions in a valid will, guardianship can become a court battle at precisely the worst possible time for your family.

The Digital Estate: Assets Your Parents Never Had to Plan For

 This is where your generation’s estate planning needs to diverge dramatically from previous generations. You’ve built wealth and identity in places that didn’t exist when your parents were your

What happens to your cryptocurrency wallet if you die tomorrow? Your Takealot seller account that generates R15,000 monthly? Your YouTube channel with 50,000 subscribers? Your Instagram account with brand partnerships? Your Shutterstock portfolio? Your online coaching business?

These are real assets—sometimes substantial ones—but if you haven’t documented them or given anyone access instructions, they can vanish entirely. Crypto wallets locked forever because only you knew the private keys. Revenue-generating websites that go dark. Social media accounts memorialised without your family being able to access or close them properly.

South African estate law is still catching up to digital assets, which makes advance planning absolutely critical. The reality is that most executors—even professional ones—won’t know these assets exist unless you’ve documented them. Your executor can’t administer assets they don’t know about.

In your will and supporting documents, you need to specify who should have access to digital assets, provide guidance on what should happen to them, include information executors need to locate them, and address both the physical devices like your laptop and phone that store passwords and the digital assets themselves that exist in the cloud or on servers.

Some platforms like Facebook and Google allow you to designate a legacy contact or inactive account manager—someone who can access your account if you die or become incapacitated. For your most valuable digital assets, it’s worth taking the time to understand each platform’s policies and set these up properly.

Side Hustles and Online Businesses: The Millennial Economy

Nearly half of South African millennials have a side hustle alongside their primary employment. You’re driving for Uber or Bolt in the evenings. You’re selling handmade goods on Etsy or Takealot. You’re running a Twitch stream or YouTube channel. You’re doing freelance graphic design or copywriting. You’re renting out a cottage on Airbnb. You’re running a small online coaching or consulting business.

These ventures generate income, sometimes substantial income. They involve business bank accounts, intellectual property, equipment, customer relationships, domain names, social media followings, and brand value. If you died tomorrow, what happens to all of that?

Your executor needs to know these businesses exist, how to access the relevant accounts and platforms, whether the business should continue operating or be wound down, who has the skills and authority to manage it in the interim, and how revenue should be handled during estate administration.

For online businesses and side hustles, proper estate planning means identifying all these assets and income streams in your estate documents, appointing fiduciaries who understand digital business or specifying that your executor should engage specialists, providing clear instructions about whether these ventures should continue or close, documenting login credentials and access information securely, and considering whether intellectual property or business assets should go to specific beneficiaries.

Your freelance photography business might be worth more than you realise if someone can continue licensing your images. Your subscriber base might be an asset your spouse could maintain. Or perhaps you’d prefer everything simply closed and revenue distributed. Either way, you need to make those decisions explicit.

Modern Families Need Modern Estate Planning

South African millennial families often look different from the traditional nuclear family model that intestate succession laws were originally designed around.

You might be in a long-term relationship without being married—either by choice or because you’re working towards it. Whilst recent legal developments have begun recognising life partnerships, the uncertainty and complexity during this transition period make a will essential to protect your partner clearly and definitively. You might be in a same-sex partnership, now legally recognised in South Africa for marriage but still requiring careful planning if you’re unmarried. You might have children from a previous relationship and a current partner, creating a blended family. You might be a single parent by choice. You might be child-free but have nieces, nephews, or godchildren you want to provide for.

Even with progressive legal changes, intestate succession still doesn’t accommodate the full complexity of modern family structures. Without a will, you’re leaving your family to navigate uncertain law during grief—forcing them to interpret recent court judgments, prove the nature of your relationship, and potentially litigate when they should be mourning.

Estate planning for millennials means being explicit about your wishes in a way that previous generations perhaps didn’t need to be. You need to specify exactly who inherits what, name guardians for minor children and explain your reasoning, make clear provision for unmarried partners without relying on transitional legal frameworks, address relationships with stepchildren or children from previous relationships, and consider whether testamentary trusts are appropriate to protect beneficiaries or manage assets for minor children.

We see the consequences regularly. A millennial couple living together for eight years, sharing a bond, raising children together, both contributing financially—and then one dies without a will. The surviving partner faces uncertainty about their legal position, must potentially prove the nature of their relationship to the Master, and watches as family dynamics become strained during an already devastating time. It’s heartbreaking, and it’s entirely preventable with proper planning.

Estate Duty: Closer Than You Think

Many millennials assume estate duty is only for the wealthy—people with R20 million estates and holiday homes in Plettenberg Bay. The reality is quite different.

Estate duty in South Africa kicks in at R3.5 million for individuals, effectively R7 million for married couples due to spousal rollover provisions. That might sound like a lot, but consider this: if you own a property in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs or anywhere in Cape Town, you’re likely sitting on an asset worth R3 million to R8 million alone. Add your retirement annuity, your pension fund, your life insurance policies where you’re the owner, your unit trusts or share portfolio, and perhaps some cryptocurrency or business equity. Many responsible, financially stable millennials building wealth properly are creating estates that will attract estate duty—currently 20 percent on amounts above the threshold, rising to 25 percent above R30 million.

Without planning, your heirs face an unexpected tax bill precisely when they’re least equipped to handle it—whilst grieving and dealing with estate administration. Strategic estate planning including life insurance structured correctly to provide liquidity, testamentary trusts where appropriate, and sometimes donations during your lifetime can significantly reduce this burden.

How to Actually Engage With Estate Planning as a Millennial

We understand that for your generation, the process matters as much as the outcome. You value authenticity, transparency, and genuine connection over formal transactions. You want to work with professionals who explain things clearly without legal jargon, who understand your digital life and modern family structure, and who treat you as a partner in the planning process rather than just processing documents.

Here’s what estate planning should look like for millennials. It should start with a real conversation about your life, your family, your assets including digital ones, your values, and your concerns—not with a receptionist handing you a generic questionnaire. It should involve clear explanations of your options under South African law, including recent developments affecting unmarried partners, presented in plain language you can actually understand. It should address your actual assets and family structure, not some outdated template. It should result in documents that are legally sound under the Wills Act 7 of 1953 whilst being clear enough that you understand what you’ve signed.

And critically, it should include guidance on keeping your plan current as your life evolves—when you get married or divorce, have children, acquire property, start or sell a business, or when someone you’ve named as executor or guardian becomes unsuitable.

The Practical Reality: What You Actually Need

At minimum, every South African millennial with assets, children, or people they care about needs a valid will that appoints executors and alternate executors, specifies who inherits what including digital assets and online businesses, names guardians for minor children if applicable, addresses your modern family structure explicitly and protects unmarried partners clearly, and considers whether testamentary trusts are appropriate.

For your digital assets specifically, you need a secure inventory of accounts and access credentials stored somewhere your executor can access it, clear instructions about which accounts should be maintained and which should be closed, and legacy contacts designated on major platforms where this feature exists.

 The cost of proper estate planning is modest—far less than most millennials spend on a single holiday—and the protection it provides is invaluable. The cost of not planning properly is potentially devastating for the people you love.

Let’s Talk: Estate Planning That Fits Your Life

Your family is mine too. We understand that estate planning as a millennial feels strange—you’re building your life, launching your career, raising young children, perhaps caring for ageing parents. Contemplating your own mortality isn’t how you want to spend a Tuesday afternoon.

But here’s what we’ve learned after years of administering deceased estates and helping South African families through these processes: the families who cope best are always those where someone took the time to plan properly. Where wishes were clear. Where guardians were named. Where digital assets were documented. Where unmarried partners were protected explicitly rather than relying on evolving legal frameworks. Where the estate administration could proceed smoothly during an already impossibly difficult time.

You don’t need a massive estate to need a will. You don’t need to be elderly to need proper planning. You just need people you care about, things that matter to you, and a modern life with digital assets and family structures that require explicit planning to protect properly.

At Benaters, we draft wills and estate plans that reflect your actual life—your relationships including unmarried partnerships, your digital assets, your side hustles and online businesses, your modern family, your values. We take time to understand your situation, explain your options clearly including recent legal developments, and create documents that work under South African law whilst being clear enough that you understand them.

Estate planning shouldn’t be intimidating or overwhelming. It should be clear, thorough, and done properly—so you can get back to building your life and your legacy, knowing the people you love are protected.

Ready to sort this out properly?

Contact Benaters today. Let’s have a conversation about your family, your assets, your digital life, and how we can help you plan properly—because proper planning makes all the difference.