Wills and Estate Planning
You must ensure that there is no sizeable gap between the last paragraph of your Will and your signature, as this can lead to your Will being declared invalid. A significant gap can provide fraudsters and those will ill-intent opportunity
The framework of the Common Reporting Standard is such that an obligation to provide and report account holder information to the various tax administration offices in the participating jurisdictions is placed on financial institutions. This includes a number of steps
Before setting up the trust, you will need to consider whether it should take the form of a testamentary or living trust. A living, or inter vivos, trust is set up during your lifetime using a trust deed as the
If you intend bequeathing immoveable property, be careful in your estate planning to ensure that no complications or unintended consequences arise. For instance, if you are married in community of property, any immoveable property will be jointly owned by you
It is important that you give careful thought to those you intending to nominate as trustees as you will effectively be entrusting them with an enormous responsibility – keeping in mind that you will no longer be around when their
If you have a Will, it is likely that the Latin term per stirpes appears in your Will. Per stirpes is a legal stipulation which requires that if one of your beneficiaries dies before you, her share of the inheritance
Where a person dies leaving no heirs, the assets in his estate will be forfeited to the State and placed in the Guardian’s Fund for safe-keeping for a period of 30 years. If no heirs come forward during this period,
A life annuity, which is an insurance-based product designed to provide a guaranteed monthly income until the death of the annuitant, is in effect a life policy and, as such, comes to an end on the death of the policyholder.
If you have a special needs child, ensuring that those assets intended for him are protected and managed in his best interests even after your passing is a critical part of generational wealth planning. Special trusts, whether testamentary or inter
Another mechanism for ensuring effective succession planning is by nominating beneficiaries to your life policy or living annuity. If you wish to provide capital to your spouse and/or children in the event of your death, taking out life cover is
