Nelson Mandela left his roughly $US4.1 million ($A4.7 million) estate to his wife Graca Machel, family members, staff, schools and the ANC, according to a summary of his will.
Two months after the death of the 95-year-old South African statesman, lawyers on Monday said Machel was likely to waive her right to half the estate, opting instead to receive four properties in Mozambique and other assets.
Royalties from his books and other projects, as well as his homes in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Qunu and Mthatha were left to a family trust.
The home in Houghton, Johannesburg, where Mandela died on December 5, will be used by the family of his deceased son Makgatho.
"It is my wish that it should also serve as a place of gathering of the Mandela and Machel family in order to maintain its unity long after death," the former statesman wrote.
Mandela's children each received $US300,000 in loans during his lifetime and will have that debt scrapped if it has not been repaid.
The will was first written in 2004 and last amended in 2008.
"He wanted to make it clear that what he believed in his life, or during his life, was transmitted to the country if not the world at large," said George Bizos, one of the executors who also represented Mandela at the trial in which he narrowly avoided the death penalty.
Even before his death, Mandela's children and grandchildren frequently clashed over who should benefit from his investments.
Several have already put the Mandela brand behind commercial projects including wine, clothing, artwork, a social network and a reality television show.
Executor Dikgang Moseneke, the deputy head of South Africa's Constitutional Court, said the reading of the will to the family had been "charged with emotion" but no one had yet contested it.
Mandela's other bequeathments reflected a life in politics and championing education.
Mandela gave about $US4500 each to members of staff, including long-time personal aide Zelda la Grange.
The will also provides around $US9000 each for Wits and Fort Hare universities, and the same amount to three other schools.
The African National Congress, which Mandela led to victory in the first democratic elections in 1994, could receive between 10 and 30 per cent of his royalties.
The cash will be used specifically to promote "policies and principles of reconciliation amongst the people of South Africa".
The ANC - which is struggling amid allegations of corruption and incompetence - welcomed the news as a sign of Mandela's "unwavering love for his people and their organisation, the ANC".
