Maintenance and Divorce: All you need to know

The court may grant an order that one party should pay the other party spousal maintenance during and after divorce proceedings. Whether a spouse is entitled to receive spousal maintenance rests in the hands of the court and is regulated by section 7 of the Divorce Act 70 of 1979. The parties can opt to settle the matter of spousal maintenance in …

Determining the validity of your 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 the Will on all the …

The rundown on rental deposits

Rental relationships can put individuals in precarious situations, something that has become all too clear amid the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Landlords are, however, aware of the possibility of unforeseen events turning a mutually beneficial arrangement on its head and thus prepare accordingly for these eventualities. This is why rental deposits are a staple of every rental agreement. One …

Mediate rather than litigate

Wikipedia’s definition of mediation is “a structured, interactive process where an impartial third-party assists disputing parties in resolving conflict through the use of specialised communication and negotiation techniques”. Mediation, when utilised in law, is a form of alternative dispute resolution. Parties that are involved in a dispute may choose the mediation process to resolve the issues between them, either before …

To rent or not to rent

The property market was labelled a buyer’s market for most of 2020. Even though the year proved to be disastrous in many respects, many factors were beneficial for property buyers. From the historically low interest rates and the adjustment of the property transfer threshold, to lowered property prices, the market opened its doors to buyers (at least figuratively speaking for …

Tax residency and deemed disposals

In 2001, South Africa, like many other countries, introduced capital gains tax aimed at levying capital gains tax on the gain made from the disposal of certain assets. When a South African tax resident company redomiciles abroad and changes its tax residency to another tax jurisdiction, such a company ceases to be a tax resident for South African income tax purposes (regardless of whether the assets of such a company are …

No work-no pay – What does the law say?

Many employers were left in the dark after the President of the Republic of South Africa declared a national state of disaster in terms of the Disaster Management Act, 2002, and implemented a national lockdown thereafter, as a means of reducing the spread of COVID-19. Employers who did not provide “essential services” were in an extraordinary position and due to the uncertain future, a lot of industries faced immense financial pressure. …