Estate Planning articles

If you and your partner live together you should consider drafting a life partnership agreement to protect yourselves should your relationship come to an end.

In Hendrik Van der Merwe v Master of the High Court and others the Supreme Court of Appeals decided that an unsigned will was valid.

Couples whose marriages are subject to the accrual system need to give careful consideration to the impact the accrual will have before the terms of

Case about widow who wrote her late husband’s will in her own handwriting The SCA has ruled in favour of a widow who wrote her

I recommend that you have separate offshore wills for every country in which you own offshore assets. The offshore will/s specifically deals with the distribution

A welcome recent amendment to the Estate Duty Act gives spouses access to each other’s estate duty abatements and eliminates the need for the artificial

Mervin Messias explains the general principles A good friend and colleague, Mervin Messias, a doyen of estate planning, explains the principles. The general principles are as

Capacity to benefit under a will The following persons are disqualified from benefitting under a will: 1.    A person who has unduly influenced the person who

If you die without a will, your estate will devolve in terms of the rules of intestate succession   © 2012 Department of Justice and

Questions to be put to an intending testator to obtain necessary information Such questions, of course, will depend on the circumstances. This form is inserted