Get Your Will Right is a practical guide on what you should consider when drawing up your Will to reduce the cost of managing your estate. The book will guide you on how to structure your assets to minimise estate duty and will help your family with the process of finalising your estate, while highlighting the problems that could occur should your Will be lost or incorrectly completed.

It also warns against the common practice of a terminally ill individual moving all the assets into the spouse’s name before death, as in the long run, this can cost the family R700 000 in estate duty.

Get Your Will Right is an easy-to-understand guide that could save your family hundreds of thousands of rands upon your death and is based on the authors’ experience of managing over 300 deceased estates.

Scott on Cession: A Treatise on the Law in South Africa is a comprehensive exposition of the law of cession. Scott incorporates aspects of her doctoral thesis (1977), her previous book on cession, The Law of Cession, (1991) and her articles on cession that have been published in law journals. The book focuses on case law, but case law as a source of law in this branch of the law poses particular problems: some of the earlier decisions, and even recent ones, are based on Roman-Dutch law, which no longer completely satisfies current modern needs. To explain certain idiosyncrasies in the case law, Scott refers to the historical development of cession as a legal institution. The book also provides extensive commentary on certain problematic aspects of cession, using comparable legal systems, and incorporates the dogmatic foundations of the law of cession.

This is the fifth edition of the book that has appeared for the first time in 1992 as a relatively concise text, primarily aimed at students in the law of succession. In its successive editions the book has evolved into a more general source on the South African law of succession. Through its approach, presentation and systematic method the work remains ideal for use as a textbook in courses in the law of succession. The fifth edition again strives to provide the reader with a comprehensive overview of the different facets of the law of succession, in the light of recent developments that have affected this branch of the law.

This book comprehensively, yet succinctly, covers the use and administration of trusts in South Africa. It also serves as a useful reference to more detailed texts on the subject as well as to case law. Whilst the Trust Property Control Act 57 of 1988 sets out the minimum requirements when it comes to the formation and administration of trusts, other statutes (including the Income Tax Act, the Estate Duty Act, and the Alienation of Land Act) also have a direct bearing on how trusts are formed, administered, amended and terminated. Moreover, the common law has been a major factor in the development of trust law in South Africa. This book therefore not only deals with the legislation that is relevant to trusts, but it highlights and discusses the case law which has been an essential part of the development of the law of trusts.

South African Law of Succession and Trusts: The Past Meeting the Present and Thoughts for the Future comprises papers that were presented at a conference held in September 2012 at the University of Cape Town. The conference participants examined the considerable developments that have occurred in the areas of succession and trusts. The book contains an interesting array of contributions that deal with aspects of `mainstream' succession and trust law. In addition, in keeping with the constitutional recognition of African customary law and different systems of personal law, several contributions deal with the relevance of African customary law and religious law in contemporary South Africa, as well as with the harmonisation of divergent legal systems.

PUT YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER NOW WHILE YOU STILL CAN AND HELP YOUR LOVED ONES, EXECUTORS AND ATTORNEYS IN THE FUTURE Coping with your death or the diagnosis of a serious illness is bad enough, but having to make difficult decisions on your behalf can add further stress and heartache for your loved ones. State your preferences for the future now, and save them the extra heartache. My House is in Order will help you to eliminate the usual problems, doubts and arguments that inevitably arise when the time comes to act upon your Will or Lasting Power of Attorneys. The best made plans alone are very often not enough, there are always other problems and considerations to think of. My House is in Order will help you prevent the following from happening: Executors struggling to find all of your information Executors not sure of their duties or what to do first Family squabbles and feuds Executors & Attorneys doubting their own decisions Attorneys wondering what you would have preferred Forgetting about certain treasured possessions and pets Making the wrong funeral arrangements Having to pay unexpected taxes and bills Stephen James Drury has been helping and advising clients to preserve and protect their estates for the last 30 years.

This work is the undisputed authority in its field. In the two decades since it was first published in 1980, two supplements were produced to update the contents. The long-awaited second edition incorporates the important legislation relating to wills and intestate succession enacted over the last twenty years, and takes note of significant judgments and new literature on the subject. It reflects the law as at 1 June 2001. Authored by a former Chief Justice of South Africa, a practising senior counsel and an eminent academic, The Law of Succession in South Africa draws on an unusually wide range of legal experiences. It should form part of every law library. Indispensable work of reference. Comprehensive discussion of all aspects of the law of succession. Includes chapters on litigation in succession matters. Deals with the conflict of laws.

What obligations to each other do people have or think they have? That question comes up in relation to family and marriage relationships, to law, and to moral reasoning. This novel and highly readable book takes it up in relation to inheritances: to what people think they should leave or be left, who should receive what, when, how, and why. Making the book novel is its range. Here are views about more than money. Covered are also houses, land and, an often neglected but emotion-laden area, the personal and often indivisible things that mean one is remembered as an individual. Making it novel also is its emphasis throughout on meanings and on what people see as matters of choice or flexibility. Even in countries where the legal codes specify who should receive what after death (many European and most Islamic codes allow far less choice than British-based law does), people still have room for decisions about what they give away to various heirs or spend before death. What makes the book highly readable? One reason is its timeliness. Currently lively, for example, are debates over parents balancing their own needs and wishes against those of their children ("spending the kids' inheritance," in one description). Another is the book's style. The writing is straightforward. Theory is not neglected but there is an absence of jargon. The material is also mostly based on narratives: on people's own descriptions of arrangements that "worked well" or "did not work well" and on why they thought so. That base makes the book far from dry and far from being an account only of negative feelings, objections, challenges, and family rifts. It also makes it more relevant at times of indecision or misunderstanding. In short, a book for many readers, both within the social sciences and beyond it.

This book offers a new look at the legal and cultural implications of bequests that crossed the color line. ""Fathers of Conscience"" examines high-court decisions in the antebellum South that involved wills in which white male planters bequeathed property, freedom, or both to women of color and their mixed-race children. These men, whose wills were contested by their white relatives, had used trusts and estates law to give their slave partners and children official recognition and thus circumvent the law of slavery. The will contests that followed determined whether that elevated status would be approved or denied by courts of law.Bernie D. Jones argues that these will contests indicated a struggle within the elite over race, gender, and class issues - over questions of social mores and who was truly family. Judges thus acted as umpires after a man's death, deciding whether to permit his attempts to provide for his slave partner and family. Her analysis of these differing judicial opinions on inheritance rights for slave partners makes an important contribution to the literature on the law of slavery in the United States.

This book centers on estate planning with code sections, regulations, court cases and experiences involved in estate planning. It was written over 5 years with excitement, pain, love and hate. It was designed for the regular person to understand because the Internal Revenue Code is not user-friendly, never was and never will be until Congress decides differently. While there are technical areas in this book, there is also an effort to explain those areas in everyday terms so the reader can easily get the point of estate planning. You must read the section on Being A Consultant - Absolutely Brutal!

Surrogate Court dockets are filled with cases involving family members fighting over the assets and intentions of a deceased parent or spouse. "Probate Wars of the Rich & Famous: An Insider's Guide to Estate Planning and Probate Litigation" tracks the estate litigation cases of Anna Nicole Smith, Brooke Astor, Michael Jackson, Nina Wang, Jerry Garcia and Leona Helmsley and identifies the five universal factors that caused such disputes. Each chapter provides estate planning insights designed to help individuals plan their estates without causing litigation. If, however, probate litigation cannot be avoided, the book also provides invaluable lessons about undue influence claims, how to remove a fiduciary, demanding an estate accounting and claims seeking to set aside lifetime transfers that undermined the decedents intentions. Few - if any - estate planning books utilize colorful celebrity accounts to provide meaningful insights and actionable advice.

The number of disputes involving trusts has risen significantly in recent years. Many disputes take place in the international environment and cross-border jurisdictional issues may arise. These disputes often involve large sums of money, impacting significantly on family relations. The handling of such disputes requires specialist skills and knowledge, including an understanding of how and why private trusts are established and administered and the problems that can arise; an awareness of the cross-jurisdictional issues that may be relevant; and the ability to identify practical legal solutions to the dispute that are compliant with trust principles. International Trust Disputes provides a comprehensive and thorough treatment of this topic. Acting as a specialist guide for practitioners, it offers a survey of the special considerations that may arise with regard to trust disputes as well as a definitive guide to the issues which may be encountered in the jurisdictions where disputes are most likely to take place.