If you're researching Capital Legacy, or looking for a Capital Legacy alternative, you're doing something smart: comparing before you sign a document your family will live with for decades.
So let's do this properly. No mud-slinging: Capital Legacy is a large, established fiduciary business that has moved thousands of South Africans from "no will" to "has a will," and that's genuinely good for the country. This page compares how their model works with how ours works, factually, so you can pick the right fit.
Everything below about Capital Legacy is drawn from their own public materials. Structures and pricing change, always confirm current details directly with any provider before deciding.
Comparison guide
Compare the will, the executor clause, and the estate costs before you sign
The free will is only the first part. The real comparison is what your family pays and who guides them when the estate is administered.
- Will drafting: both providers can draft a will for free.
- Cost cover: compare optional insurance against quoted fees.
- Executor: read who is named and what fee applies.
- Amendments: check how easily you can update or move.
Short version
Both beat having no will. The differences are in the model.
Both Capital Legacy and Wills & Trust offer:
- Free will drafting by professionals
- Safekeeping of your will
- In-house estate administration when the time comes
- Trust services for protecting inheritances
The differences live in three places: how the winding-up costs are handled, how the executor appointment works, and how the relationship is structured. Those three things decide what your family actually experiences, and pays, one day.
Three differences
Where the two models actually differ
Difference 1: How winding-up costs are covered
Dying costs money. Executor's fees (up to 3.5% + VAT), conveyancing on property, Master's fees, possible trust costs, on an ordinary estate these run into tens or hundreds of thousands of rand. (Full cost breakdown)
Capital Legacy's model: the Legacy Protection Plan®, a monthly insurance premium you pay while alive. On death, its benefits help indemnify executor fees, testamentary trust fees and conveyancing fees, and can provide immediate cash to the family and cover estate overheads. The trade-off is structural: it's an insurance policy, so the value depends on premiums paid, staying in force, and the benefit terms at claim stage.
Our model: the will, amendments and safekeeping are free with no linked monthly premium required, and the executor's fee is negotiated and quoted upfront, in writing, when you draft your will. We also offer an insurance solution for winding-up costs if you want fees covered rather than negotiated, but it's an option, not the engine of the relationship.
The question to ask ANY provider (us included): "Show me, in rand, what my estate would pay on my death, with and without your plan." A good provider answers on paper.
Difference 2: Who becomes your executor
Capital Legacy: their integrated model centres on appointment of their own licensed executor entity. One-roof efficiency is a real advantage, their scale (hundreds of in-house estate specialists, correspondents at Masters' offices) is genuinely impressive.
Wills & Trust: we also act as professional executor with a dedicated case manager per family, but the appointment, the fee, and any family co-involvement are negotiated openly at drafting stage, and you can change your mind with a free amendment at any time.
Whoever you choose, check two things in the actual will document before signing:
- Who is named as executor, and
- What fee is specified (or whether it defaults to the maximum tariff).
Free drafting is a genuine gift, and the drafter usually expects to be the executor. That's true of the whole industry, including us. The difference worth shopping for is whether the fee is negotiable and transparent now, while you hold the pen.
Difference 3: Amendments, access and lock-in
Life changes, marriage, divorce, births, property. A will you can't easily update is a will that slowly becomes wrong. (When to update your will)
Compare on:
- Amendment cost and speed, ours are unlimited and free, with a 48-hour turnaround.
- What happens if you leave, can you retrieve your original will easily and appoint elsewhere?
- Ongoing obligations, is anything (like cost cover) dependent on a premium staying active?
None of these questions are hostile. They're the questions a good provider wants you to ask, because their answers hold up.
Side-by-side
Capital Legacy vs Wills & Trust
| Capital Legacy | Wills & Trust | |
|---|---|---|
| Will drafting | Free | Free |
| Amendments | Per their current terms | Free, unlimited |
| Safekeeping | Yes | Yes, free |
| Winding-up cost cover | Legacy Protection Plan® (monthly insurance premium) | Optional insurance solution; fees also negotiable upfront |
| Executor | Their licensed executor entity | Wills & Trust, fee quoted in writing at drafting |
| Family contact during administration | Estate consultant model | Dedicated case manager per family |
| Turnaround on new will | Per their process | 48 hours |
| Shari'ah-compliant wills | Offered | Offered |
(Confirm current Capital Legacy terms directly with them, this table reflects their public materials at time of writing.)
Decision
Pick based on fit, transparency, and the executor clause
Honestly? Either beats no will by a mile. If you're a Capital Legacy client with an up-to-date will and you understand your plan's costs and benefits, you're ahead of 70% of the country. Genuinely.
Choose Capital Legacy if you value the scale of a very large integrated provider and the insurance-based cost-cover approach suits you.
Choose Wills & Trust if you want the free will without a linked monthly premium, an executor fee negotiated in writing while you hold the leverage, unlimited free amendments, and one named case manager your family will deal with throughout.
And if you already have a Capital Legacy will? Bring it to us for a free, no-obligation review, we'll show you exactly what it says about executorship and fees, in plain language. If it's good, we'll tell you it's good.
Quick answers
Questions people ask when comparing providers
Is Capital Legacy's will really free?
Yes, drafting is free. As with most providers (including us), the business model sits in the estate administration and, in their case, the Legacy Protection Plan® insurance offering. Read the executor clause and understand the plan before signing.
What is the Legacy Protection Plan?
Capital Legacy's insurance product: a monthly premium that, on death, helps cover executor fees, conveyancing, trust fees, and provides immediate liquidity to the family, per the policy's terms.
Can I move my will from Capital Legacy to another provider?
Yes. A newer valid will revokes older ones. Retrieve or account for any original held in safekeeping, and understand any product implications before you switch.
What does Wills & Trust charge as executor?
The tariff ceiling is 3.5% + VAT, but we negotiate and quote in writing at drafting stage, ask us for the number before you commit to anything.
Ready to put this in place?
Compare before you sign the executor clause
Bring your current will for a plain-English review of executorship, fees, amendments, and safekeeping.
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