When does prescription of a debt start?
Debt does not last forever, after a period of time it prescribes and becomes invalid. Prescribed debt can be explained as old debt that has not been acknowledged over a period of three years. This means that a debt prescribes if: You have not acknowledged the debt in the past three consecutive years, either in […]
Buying a property on auction
Properties sold on auction is not necessarily the bargain buy everyone seems to think it is. This is because the property on auction isn’t necessarily being sold due to financial distress. In today’s times, homeowners have turned to auction as a means of selling their property as soon as possible and for as a high […]
The importance of executing a Will the right way
I gave instructions to my attorney to prepare a last will and testament for me as my will no longer reflected my wishes. At my request, my attorney emailed the will to me with clear instructions as to how I should go about signing it. I asked my neighbours to act and sign as witnesses. […]
Pets in sectional title schemes
“Is it pet friendly?” A question often asked by many potential buyers and tenants of Sectional Title units, which answer, in most cases, is a crucial factor in their decision to purchase or rent the said unit. To answer the question, your attention can be drawn to the Prescribed Conduct Rules in Annexure 1 of […]
Moving regulations during the lockdown
We’ve all felt like it – the hairs on the back of your neck standing up, sure someone is keeping an eye on you, watching as you receive a DVD box set that was for some reason labelled “essential” on the online store, sneaking in at 09:20 after the morning jog you were sure was […]
The threat of fake news to your business
The threat of fake news to your business In the digital age, information is everywhere. At the click of a button a message can travel across oceans in the time it takes to blink. For the large part, it’s an incredible testament to human invention. But for some part, as with the spread of destructive […]
Room for improvement in the real estate industry
Room for improvement in the real estate industry The property market for 2020 initially proved to be a buyers’ market. Though with the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown’s effects on the economy, the question is whether it still is. The transfer duty threshold was lifted by R100 000, loan approvals were […]
Why an estate plan is crucial
Why an estate plan is crucial We’ve all seen it in movies and novels: A young unsuspecting person wakes up one day to find out that they had been left an extraordinarily large estate from a distant relative that they hardly knew existed. We chalk it up to an absurdity. Something like that would never […]
The full accrual of an estate during a divorce
The full accrual of an estate during a divorce In the case of CM v EM it was held in the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa (“SCA”), case number 10861/2018, that: “The value of the Respondent’s right to future annuity payments in respect of Personal Portfolio Living Annuities (“the living annuities”) from Glacier […]
The benefits of creating a trust
The benefits of creating a trust Trusts are well-known to facilitate effective estate planning and continuity planning strategies. That said, setting up a trust – whether an inter vivos (between the living) or a testamentary (created in a will) − should be carefully considered and not just implemented blindly. The difference between testamentary and inter […]