FOURIE FISMER INCORPORATED - South Africa

This is a special time of preparation and obtaining information and important decisions which need to be made. Some of which includes your finances and the legal aspects:

DO YOU HAVE A PRE-NUP?
ARE YOUR WILLS IN PLACE?

There are 3 different ways to get married:

In Community of Property (Not Recommended) : all the assets of both parties will form part of one estate. All profits& loss will be shared. Whatever is mine is yours what ever is yours is mine.

Out of Community of Property (Without Accrual System) : whatever is mine, will remain mine. Whatever is yours will remain yours. The accrual system are excluded from the marriage.

Out of Community of Property (With Accrual System) : during the subsistence of marriage the spouses are fully independent and there is a complete separation of property. Only on dissolution of the marriage the gains made by the parties during the marriage are shared between them. Property acquired by the parties before the marriage is not shared.

WHY DO YOU NEED A MARRIAGE CONTRACT? A marriage contract is there to protect you from the debts of your spouse. Ownership of matrimonial property can be structured in a way which will prevent the matrimonial assets being attached by creditors. If you do not enter into a marriage contract you will automatically be married in community of property, all pre-marriage assets will be shared and at the risk of matrimonial assets being attached by creditors for a spouse’s debt. NB: You must sign your contract before you get married. Contracts signed after marriage requires an application to the high court, this can be an extremely expensive endeavour. According to law, this will also mean that you are married in community of property, which matrimonial system does not protect you from the debts of your spouse.

WHAT IS THE ACCRUAL SYSTEM?
The accrual system allows you to protect the wealth you bring into the marriage but provides for the sharing of the capital growth of the marriage i. e the difference between the net value of that estate at the commencement of the marriage and its net value upon dissolution of the marriage.

WHY DO YOU NEED A WILL?
It’s a difficult subject for many people, but a thoughtful, well planned estate can be one of the most generous gifts you give your loved ones.

So do you need a will? YES, if you want to decide who would take care of your family and how your possessions and money would be distributed if something happened to you, you would require a will in order to do so.

Disadvantages of dying without a will:

• The court could appoint someone you do not approve of to be your executor • Your estate will be dealt with according to rigid and inflexible laws

• Your minor children’s inheritance might suffer, since anything they are entitled to receive, will have to be transferred to the Guardian’s Fund in a monetary form, where it will remain until they turn 18. This means that the family home would have to be sold (converted into a monetary form), which is quite possibly something you would never have chosen to happen

• If you have no immediate or close family, distant relatives - rather than close friends or a life partner - will claim the inheritance

We trust you find the above information imperative as to the important decision that needs to be made by yourself and your future spouse.

- Johanni Spies Attorney, Conveyancer, Notary