Life partners now qualify for intestate succession
The Constitutional Court recently confirmed the October 2020 ruling of the Western Cape High Court that section 1(1) of the Intestate Succession Act is unconstitutional in so far as it excludes life partners in a relationship intended to be permanent, as per the definition of “spouse”. The Court ordered parliament to amend two laws to […]
Deceased’s will declared invalid, despite clear wishes
The Wills Act sets out the requirements for a valid Last Will and Testament. For a will to be valid, it must be signed and witnessed. What happens if the wishes of the deceased are clear, but the document does not meet the requirements of a valid will? This was the heart of the matter […]
The importance of witnesses when signing a will
I gave instructions to my attorney to prepare a Will for me as my most recent Will no longer reflected my wishes. My attorney emailed the Will to me with clear instructions as to how I should go about signing the Will. I asked my neighbours to act and sign as witnesses. My neighbours signed […]
Caring for your loved ones by caring for their future
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 happen in real life, would it? […]
The difficulty of choosing a guardian
No parent wants to think about giving their child over to someone else. The idea itself is enough to send many into full Liam Neeson Taken mode, refusing even the idea of their child being taken away from them to find a hold in their minds. But what is it’s not your child that is taken away, […]