Wessels & van Zyl Inc

How Can You Protect Your Heirs’ Inheritances from Their Creditors? We all want to leave our loved ones as financially secure as possible when we die. But that involves more than just the basics of executing a valid will, choosing a competent and professional executor, and of course leaving enough asset value in your estate. Let’s talk about the risk of one or more of your heirs finding themselves in financial distress and losing their inheritances to their creditors. How should you go about ensuring that inheritances aren’t subject to attachment by creditors, or seizure by trustees if their estates are sequestrated? Read on for some options… READ MORE https://buff.ly/4eqn315

Three Ways to Protect Yourself from the Nightmare Neighbour in Your Complex Bad neighbours can make life in a complex unbearable. The good news is that our law provides several quick and effective ways to protect yourself and your family from the tyrant next door. We discuss three options that may be open to victims in the context of a recent High Court fight between two neighbours in a complex that included allegations of verbal and physical abuse, threats, and harassment. READ MORE https://buff.ly/3TMvagc

Happy Heritage Day South Africa

Divorce and the New Three-Pot System: Another Risk To Manage It’s important for everyone to understand how the new “three-pot” (or “two-pot” as it’s often called) retirement system will affect our retirement plans and savings. And for those unlucky enough to be facing the spectre of divorce, a natural question will be “how will this new system affect my financial settlement?” We’ll address that question with reference to each of the various marital regimes, before ending off with a warning about managing a new risk – covert depletion of the “savings pot”. READ MORE https://buff.ly/479DBHQ

When Can You Legally Record Conversations? Recording conversations can be a powerful tool in both our business and personal lives, but it’s essential to understand the legal boundaries. When can you record phone calls, Zoom meetings, or even casual in-person chats? And when is it illegal to do so? We break down the key points, from the rules around recording your own conversations to the limitations on recording others without consent, with a separate note on considerations in the workplace. Make sure you’re informed and stay within the law! READ MORE https://buff.ly/3TbKbYx

Sibling Showdown: How One Missing Word in a Will Divided a Family Your will could be the most important document you ever sign. A recent court fight over a poorly-drafted joint will is a stark reminder to make sure that every word in it is correct. In a worst-case scenario, bad drafting will not only subject your loved ones to bitterly-contested litigation but can also put your last wishes at risk of not being honoured at all. All perhaps for the want of just one word. We’ll explain what went wrong in the case in question and show you how to avoid the destructive family fallouts that characterise so many inheritance disputes. READ MORE https://buff.ly/4dLcLZ3

Divorce Diaries: Anti-Dissipation Orders in Action When you’re going through a divorce it’s common to suspect your ex is selling off assets on the sly or concealing them from you outright. The paranoia is justified: you could leave the marriage with a lot less than your fair share. A recent SCA (Supreme Court of Appeal) battle over an ex-husband's decision to sell his property without telling his ex-wife raises further concerns. Why did his ex-wife's “anti-dissipation interdict” fail, and what can you do to avoid the same fate? READ MORE https://buff.ly/3Wvmvzh

Sour Grapes? Don’t Make Accusations Unless They’re True A company director recently went public with claims that a government minister had offered him a R500m bribe. He says the offer was made by two unnamed informants over a restaurant dinner. But he had no evidence to prove his claims. The minister, desperate not to have his good name sullied by “slander’s venomed spear”, hit back, lodging a R1m defamation case. The courts wasted no time in finding in the minister’s favour. Yet another warning not to dabble in defamation if you can’t back your allegations. READ MORE https://buff.ly/3A974VS

Happy National Women’s Day

The Garage Door That Had the Complex Up in Arms Homeowners Associations (HOAs) and corporate bodies take note! A recent High Court decision confirms that you cannot enforce your rules and regulations inconsistently. At stake in this case was an HOA’s instruction to a homeowner to remove his “mirror finish” garage door, which contravened one of the estate’s architectural rules. But, as some damning photographs of other mirrored doors proved, the HOA had seemingly not enforced that rule consistently… READ MORE https://buff.ly/3A5gHER