Your promise today helps us protect animals tomorrow.

Most of us would rather not think about it. That is probably why so many people never make a Will. But writing one or keeping yours up to date means your family and friends are provided for, and that everything happens the way you wanted, long after you are no longer around.

For many of our supporters, it also means making sure the fight against cruelty to animals in South Africa carries on without them by including a gift to AACL in their Will.

For seventy years, AACL has been the one place that walks with an animal from the worst day of their life to the best: rescue, hospital, food, shelter, a home, and the teaching that helps stop it happening again. A gift in your Will means that journey continues for animals you will never meet.

Many of our supporters ask how they, too, can leave a legacy to AACL. This page is a simple guide to how easy it is and why it matters.

Our Promise to You.

Your Will is a confidential document, and we respect that completely. We will never ask you to share its contents with us. If you choose to tell us you have included AACL, that is entirely your decision, and it is always welcome but never expected.

Why leave your legacy to AACL?

Others do a part. We do the whole: One place. Every life. Beginning to end.

A legacy to AACL is not a gift to a single cause, it is a gift to a whole journey. For seventy years, we have been the one place in this city that never hands an animal on. Our inspectors answer the call. Our hospital heals. Our feeding scheme keeps bowls full. Our kennels keep animals safe. Our team finds them a home. And our educators help make sure fewer animals ever need rescuing at all.

Other organisations do a part of this work, and do it well. AACL is one of the few that does the whole of it, under one roof, which means your gift does not just fund one moment in an animal’s story. It funds the entire chain, for as long as the need exists.

It costs you nothing during your lifetime. It costs your Attorney only the small fee of amending your Will. And it means that, long after your own story ends, you are still holding a link in ours.

Thinking about your legacy and drafting a Will can feel overwhelming, but it is an important step in making sure your wishes are respected and carried out. A helpful place to begin is by asking yourself a few key questions:

  • What assets do you have? Start by listing what you own your home, vehicle, bank savings, retirement annuities, life insurance policies, and any other valuable possessions.
  • Who would you like to inherit these assets? After making provision for your loved ones, you may choose to leave assets to family, friends, or causes close to your heart, such as AACL.
  • Who will carry out your wishes? Your Executor is responsible for administering your estate and making sure it is distributed exactly according to your instructions.

If you die without a valid Will, South African law, not you, decides who inherits your estate. This is called dying “intestate”, and it follows a fixed order set out in the Intestate Succession Act. That order may not reflect your actual wishes, your family situation, or the causes closest to your heart.

It also does not necessarily follow the outcome you would expect. Are you married? Do you have children? Are you living with a partner you are not married to? Each of these changes how the law would divide your estate, and a Will is the only way to make sure it is divided the way you actually want.

Without a Will, the people you love can also find themselves navigating legal and financial complications that take time and can cause real short-term hardship while an estate is sorted out.

A Will is not a once-off task — it is a living document that should grow and change with your life. An outdated Will can fail to provide for people who matter to you now, still name people who are no longer part of your life, or simply no longer reflect what you own or what you want.

A good habit is to review your Will every few years, and always after a major life event. You will need to review yours if:

  • You have married since you wrote it this can make an earlier Will invalid, unless it was drawn up in contemplation of the marriage.
  • You are living with, or intending to marry, a new partner, and want to include them.
  • You have divorced since you wrote it this does not cancel the whole Will, but it does affect provisions naming an ex-spouse as a beneficiary or Executor.
  • Your estate has changed in value or composition since you wrote it.
  • You have new children, grandchildren, or relatives through marriage you wish to include.
  • Any beneficiary, guardian or Executor you named has since passed away or is no longer the right choice.
  • If you only need to make a small change, your Attorney, Bank Manager or Trust Company can often add a codicil, a simple, signed amendment, rather than rewriting the whole Will. Jot down what you would like to change and get in touch with them as soon as you can.

The Law Society of South Africa, which runs the country’s annual National Wills Week, encourages every South African to have their Will drafted by a practising Attorney. Attorneys have the legal knowledge to make sure a Will is valid and correctly worded, and can advise you on any complexities specific to your own estate. South African law does allow you to write your own Will, but a self-drafted Will is far more likely to contain a technical error or be successfully challenged which can create exactly the stress and delay for your family that a Will is meant to prevent.

Your Executor is the person (or people) who make sure your wishes are carried out after your death. You can name more than one, most people choose two, and they can be family, friends, or professionals such as an Attorney or Trust Company.

It is often sensible to include a professional as one of your Executors, since they are used to dealing with the Master of the High Court, SARS, and any queries that arise. Naming a bank, trust company or law firm also means your Will does not need to change if a personal Executor later becomes unable to serve.

How to include AACL in your Will

Three simple steps

  • Choose AACL, confirm our exact registered name, physical address, and NPO/PBO registration number for the branch you would like to support. We are always happy to provide these details on request, and you will find our Head Office details below.
  • Consult your Attorney, work with a qualified Attorney, Bank Manager or Trust Company while drafting or updating your Will, so the wording is legally precise and valid.
  • Let us know, and complete our Pledge to the Future form so we can record your wishes and thank you properly, as one of the guardians holding our whole chain together.

There are three main types of gift you can leave to AACL in your Will. Your Attorney, Bank Manager or Trust Company can help you word whichever suits you best, once you have provided for your family and friends.

  • A residuary gift: a percentage, or the remainder, of your estate after providing for family and friends. This is the most valuable kind of gift to us, for the reasons above, and it automatically adjusts with inflation.
  • A pecuniary gift: a fixed sum of money specified in your Will.
  • A specific gift: physical items of value, such as property, shares, art or jewellery.

Suggested wording

To include AACL in your Will, please share the following wording with your Attorney, Bank Manager or Trust Company — they will adapt it precisely to your circumstances and to the rest of your Will:

“I, (your name and surname), give (specify the amount, asset, or percentage of my estate) to the Animal Anti-Cruelty League, Head Office, of 59 Alice Street, Regents Park, Johannesburg (or your preferred branch — Cape Town, Durban & Pietermaritzburg, Ladysmith, Port Elizabeth or Bredasdorp), for its general charitable purposes.”

If you would like your gift to support a specific area of our work, please contact us in advance so we can make sure your wishes can be fulfilled, and help you word this correctly.

Our details

To make sure your bequest is correctly directed, use the details of your preferred branch.

Legal name: Animal Anti-Cruelty League

Address (Head Office/Johannesburg branch): 59 Alice Street, Regents Park, Johannesburg

NPO number: 000 560 & PBO number (Head Office/Johannesburg): 930089891

Contact person: a designated AACL representative your Attorney can liaise with.

Your questions answered

First, find an Attorney, or speak to your Bank’s Trust department. If you do not have one, ask friends for recommendations, or contact us and we can send you a list of Attorneys in your area (we cannot recommend individual practitioners, but we can point you to firms that handle Wills).

Second, work out the approximate value of your estate, your Attorney or Trust Company can guide you through this.

Third, decide who your beneficiaries should be; children, other family, friends, AACL, and any other causes you care about — and how you would like your estate divided between them.

Costs vary depending on the complexity of your estate and whether you need a simple Will, a more complex Will, or a joint (“mirror”) Will for a couple. Your Attorney, Bank Manager or Trust Company will be able to give you an accurate quote. If you only need to make a minor change, a codicil is usually far less costly than a completely new Will.

A gift to a registered non-profit like AACL is often treated favourably for estate and tax purposes and can be structured so it does not reduce what you have already provided for your family and friends, but the details depend entirely on your own estate. We are not able to give financial or estate-planning advice, so please raise this directly with your Attorney, Bank Manager, Trust Company or a qualified estate planner, who can explain exactly how a legacy to AACL would work within your own Will.

Making a safer place for animals

AACL has been campaigning since 1956 to protect animal life. For seventy years, we have been the one place that never hands an animal on, rescue, hospital care, feeding, shelter, rehoming, and the education work that helps the next generation prevent cruelty before it starts. Other organisations do a part of this. We do the whole.

Legacies are particularly important to that work, because they promise us funds for the future, letting us plan long-term campaigns, expand our hospital and feeding and care programmes, and keep every part of the chain moving, not just for today’s animals, but for the ones who have not arrived yet.

Whether your gift is large or small, it can become part of a legacy that continues beyond your lifetime.

Let us know

If you do include AACL in your Will, we would be delighted, and very grateful. No matter how long it is before we receive your legacy, there will still be animals in need of rescue, healing, and a home.

If you are planning to include AACL in your Will, or have already done so, please let us know, it helps us plan for the future, and it means we can thank you properly. Simply get in touch by phone or email and we can assist.

When we receive your legacy, we include your name in our Book of Remembrance, as a lasting reminder of your generosity and of the whole chain you helped hold.

One place. Every life. Beginning to end.