“That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.” (Shakespeare, in Romeo and Juliet) Your wedding to-do list will be a long one, and getting all the “boring legal bits” in order before you marry may not seem like a huge priority. But it is. Choices you make now will affect both of you (and your families) forever. One of those choices is what surname/s you want to adopt in your marriage. We’ll discuss your options below. And although they’re currently available only to women, there’s good news on that front – a recent High Court decision has set the stage for men to be given the same choices as women. What’s the current position? In terms of our Births and Deaths Registration Act, as…
You should always take as much security for your claims as you possibly can before advancing credit or lending money to a debtor. That’s because if your debtor fails and is “liquidated” (if a corporate) or “sequestrated” (if an individual), without security you will have only a concurrent claim in the estate. And with a concurrent claim, you will be lucky to get back more than a few cents in the Rand, because you will rank right at the bottom of the ladder after both secured creditors and preferent creditors (employees, SARS etc). So, first prize is always to hold security for your claim Having a “secured claim” greatly increases your chances of being paid out a decent amount (hopefully your claim in full), because the proceeds of the asset/s…
We can only guess at how the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak will end, but let’s all take whatever concrete steps we can right now to lessen its impact on our personal lives, on our businesses, and on our country. One of those steps is for businesses to find ways of continuing to operate as normally as possible, given of course the exceptional times we are living through. And as employers, many businesses will find themselves facing some novel challenges, particularly during the National Lockdown… Small businesses – the new relief programs A whole raft of support and relief programs has been announced. Some still need to be finalised and the situation is changing daily, so keep an eye on the media and incorporate into your business survival plan all relief channels…
In January 2019 new amendments to Regulations for the replacement of lost title deeds (and similar documents like mortgage bonds and notarial bonds – see below) were published. They were very onerous and slated to come into effect at short notice, but after criticism they were suspended – until now. Revised amendments have been published, to come into effect on 1 January 2020. Firstly, what is a “Title Deed”? A title deed (deed of transfer) is legal proof of ownership of a property. It also contains a lot of other important information relating to the property, such as a full description, its size, names of previous owners, bonds registered over it, conditions and legal restrictions relating to it and so on. Why should you care if yours is lost? Without…
The last thing you want in any property transfer is any more delay and cost than is already built into the process. Unhappily, that is exactly what is in store if the property’s original title deed is for any reason not to hand. Whether it has been lost or destroyed, you will need your conveyancer to apply for replacement with a certified copy from the Deeds Office. And whereas that is currently a pretty straightforward procedure with minimal delay and cost, that is set to change shortly. We’ll share with you all the details and we’ll give you a plan of action, but beware – your window of opportunity here is a narrow one! Imagine that you sell your house/apartment/office/factory/plot of land and you thereafter instruct your conveyancer to pass transfer…
