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Thinking of setting up a Trust?
A well-planned trust can be a useful estate planning tool that protects your assets and wealth. Our Trusts and Estates team share some answers to frequently asked questions regarding the different types of trusts, and the main benefits and disadvantages to be aware...
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Maintenance in arrears? What should you do.
At the seat of every Magistrate’s Court lies a Maintenance Court which is presided over by a Maintenance Officer. When a person who is legally liable for maintenance towards a minor child has not been meeting his or her obligations, an application can be brought for...
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Driving under the influence – a sobering thought
The 2017/2018 South African Police Service Annual Crime statistics showed 86,160 instances of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. This is a substantial amount more than the 75,034 during the 2016/2017 financial year. This means that increasingly South...
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How Labour Law treats racism in the workplace
Racism remains a controversial and sensitive topic in South Africa and such behaviour should not be tolerated in any working environment. Any form of racist remark, comment, behaviour, treatment or even an alleged form of any of these performed by an individual will...
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Can foreigners own property in South Africa?
Foreigners may purchase and own immovable property in South Africa without any restrictions, as foreigners are generally subject to the same laws as South African nationals. The only foreigners disqualified from owning property in South Africa are foreigners that are...
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Putative marriages and their legal consequences
A marriage is putative if one or both spouses in good faith are ignorant of the fact that their marriage is invalid, but they have a belief that the marriage is valid. What defines a putative marriage? For a void marriage to be putative, at least one or both...
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Commercial recoveries: choosing the right court
Commercial debt recovery or business‐to‐business collection is the process whereby an attorney or other registered debt collector recovers a delinquent (outstanding or overdue) amount, plus lawful interest, administrative costs and collection fees from a business...
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The death of a shareholder: what happens next?
A shareholder can be defined as a person, whether natural or juristic, who owns shares or stock in a company. A person can be a sole proprietor or owner of 100% of the shares, or a part shareholder where for example they own 30% of the shares. But what happens when a...
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Curatorship – what does it entail?
There are various reasons why someone would need to be appointed to safeguard another’s affairs, ranging from financial, personal or otherwise. The most common are cases where a person is incapable of looking after their own affairs due to mental illness in most cases...
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The right to spousal maintenance
Although it is often stated that spouses have a right to spousal maintenance, it is important to note that neither spouse has a statutory right to maintenance. Whether or not spousal maintenance is to be granted is a matter of discretionary power, which is given to...
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