An out-and-out disinheritance clause in a will executed more than 100 years ago that excluded female lineal descendants has been overruled by the Constitutional Court, says a Cape Times report. It held that the Equality Act was now the benchmark to evaluate the...

Beneficiaries are those persons who are initially defined by the founder in the trust instrument and are subsequently selected by the trustees from time to time in terms of the trust instrument stipulations, set by the founder. The Trust Property Control Act does not...

Trustees are the guardians of the trust assets and have a duty to manage these assets in the best interests of the beneficiaries. SARS and creditors frequently make attempts to attack trusts, but this can be mitigated through the appointment of an independent trustee....

High Court case 21 January 2021: RS NO and Others v CMS and Others; In re: CMS v RS and Others (6837/2020) [2021] ZAWCHC 6. In this case, which is linked to a divorce mediation process, the wife obtained a subpoena against Investec Bank to provide information in its...

People, generally speaking, do not pay sufficient attention to what they want to happen with their assets upon their deaths. This can be ascribed to estate planning not being given priority at a given time, or to people shying away from dealing with thoughts around...

COVID-19 VACCINE SUPPLY 21 JANUARY 2021 A proverbial storm has developed around South Africa’s procurement, or the perceived lack thereof, of Covid-19 vaccines. People are understandably anxious. I therefore compiled this note from publicly available information, and...

In a recent court case, van Rensburg v van Rensburg N.O. and Others (24 March 2020) issues around a testamentary trust were highlighted yet again. As the will of a deceased person forms the trust instrument, no further trust instrument is required to be lodged with...

A lesbian couple have launched an application in the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) intended to block an artificial insemination sperm donor from claiming parental rights to their child. A notice filed by lawyers for the couple indicated that the couple, in a...

You can have a wedding ceremony in a church with a minister’s blessing … but that does not necessarily mean you are legally married.  This emerged when a woman sought continued maintenance from her ex-husband who believed he was no longer liable to pay as she had...