Wessels & van Zyl Inc

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

Can You Sign an Affidavit Over Zoom? We’ve all grumbled at having to go and find a commissioner of oaths in a police station or bank just to attest an affidavit, and in these days of online meetings and electronic signature and storage of documents, it seems positively archaic that we can’t do everything remotely. But, as the relevant Regulations are currently worded, face-to-face physical commissioning seems to remain the only guaranteed way of ensuring that your affidavit will be accepted in court. We’ll discuss why that is with reference to three recent High Court decisions with different facts and differing outcomes. READ MORE https://buff.ly/45QGU5U

Happy Mandela Day Honouring the legacy of Nelson Mandela: A commitment to justice, equality, and human rights.

The New Cannabis Act: Here’s What You Will and Won’t Be Allowed to Do Following the Constitutional Court’s partial (and rather vague) legalisation of private, personal use/possession/cultivation of cannabis in 2018, the new “Cannabis for Private Purposes Act” has finally been signed into law. But, contrary to the impression created by many excited media reports, the Act is not yet in force, nor does it set “maximum amounts” of plants or dried cannabis that can be possessed or cultivated. Let’s have a look at what the Act actually does say, and at what it will, when it commences, allow and not allow… READ MORE https://buff.ly/4cunnei

Home Buyer loses R5.5m in Phishing Scam – Don’t Make the Same Mistake! It’s an exciting time, buying a property. But don’t let your guard down – cybercriminals love the lucrative pickings on offer from property transactions, and they never sleep! We’ll discuss the recent Supreme Court of Appeal case of a widow who, in trying to pay over the purchase price of a house, lost her R5.5m when her email system was hacked and she fell victim to a textbook email scam. Why did the SCA rule against her? How should she have protected herself? We’ll address those questions and share 5 steps you should take immediately to avoid falling into the same trap. READ MORE https://buff.ly/4eLee2n

The Pothole Plague – Claiming Damages As the “pothole plague” grows alarmingly both here and overseas, an increasing number of us are suffering pothole-related losses. We’ll discuss your right to claim for both vehicle damage and personal injury with reference to a recent High Court case which handed a resounding victory to a motorist suing a provincial road authority for R8.6m. He had crashed after hitting a pothole and although he had no personal memory of the accident, expert evidence was enough to persuade the Court that he should be awarded 100% or his proved or agreed damages. READ MORE https://buff.ly/3QpoanQ

Rising Damp and Failed Waterproofing: How to Sue the Sellers All sellers and buyers should understand both what constitutes a “defect” in a house for sale, and the extent and limits of a seller’s duty to disclose defects to prospective buyers. A recent High Court award of damages, to a buyer who only became aware of substantial damp problems in the house after taking transfer, discusses the effect of a standard “voetstoots” clause on a buyer’s claim for redress. What did the buyer have to prove? How did the mandatory “property condition report” impact on the seller’s liability? We’ll look at how the Court addressed those questions … READ MORE https://buff.ly/3QlMqXR