Wills and Estate Planning
Once you make contact with the executor, be prepared for a preliminary meeting with her as she will be required to prepare a rudimentary list of your spouse’s assets and liabilities for submission to the Master, which must be accompanied
To determine the dutiable value of your estate, keep in mind that certain assets, such as bequests to your surviving spouse, bequests to PBOs, and the proceeds of life policies payable to your spouse, and business assurance polices, are excluded.
Saving for retirement may feel like an impossibility for a single parent, especially when your children are younger and the continuous stream of expenses seems insurmountable. It may help to remind yourself that saving for retirement is a long-term process
Unlike a life annuity (which is an insurance policy designed to provide a guaranteed income for life), a living annuity is an investment held in the investor’s name which is generally linked to an underlying investment on a LISP platform
Life annuities generally cease to exist on the death of the policyholder, except in the case of joint life annuities in which case the surviving spouse will continue to receive an annuity income for the remainder of his life or
Your future self will thank you for beginning your investment journey early in your career even if your retirement plans are unclear. The most tax-efficient way to achieve this is by investing towards an approved retirement fund and claiming the
If you have a large portion of your accumulated wealth invested in your business, then it is important to consider what will happen to your business interests in the event of your death. It is likely that you intend for
Key to the validity of a trust is that the trust founder relinquishes full control of the assets transferred to the trust. It must be clear that the trust founder hands over control of the assets to his nominated trustees
Probate is a procedure whereby your South African-drafted Will is approved by the foreign legal authority as valid so that your foreign assets can be administered, although keep in mind that obtaining a probate order may delay the winding up
In theory, your bank accounts should be frozen in the event of your death. However, in practice, there is generally a delay between your death and the appointment of your executor whose job it is to notify your financial institutions
