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.

There is no room for error in the drafting of Wills because when a Will comes into effect the testator is not present to revise, amend, interpret or give instructions as to his intentions. This places a special onus on the drafter to be linguistically precise and technically correct. Failure to adhere to the minutiae of the technicalities and legalities have led to many a family dispute, costly litigation, and delays in the winding up of estates, causing both emotional and financial hardship to the family of the deceased. This practical guide, written by a specialist in the drafting of wills, covers all the processes, considerations and technicalities involved in correct and sound drafting of wills, covering details that are vital to good testamentary practice. It is essential reading and reference for all professionals involved in the drafting of wills and in the administration of deceased estates, including lawyers, accountants, tax advisers, bankers, insurers, and testators themselves. The book is based on the latest developments in the law and recent judgments pertaining to Wills. As both a practitioner and lecturer in the field of deceased estates, Ceris Field brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the subject of drafting of Wills.

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.

Ninety-three per cent of people who have made a will in the UK have not included any provision for their digital assets when they die. It is therefore vital that all practitioners involved in drafting wills and estate planning discuss with their clients what will happen to their digital estate on their death. This book explains the practical and legal aspects of planning for and administering a digital estate: * what constitutes a digital asset; * digital assets and the law; * how to consider digital assets when drafting wills; * dealing with digital assets after death; * the digitisation of wills and will signing; and * financial abuse and digital assets. The book provides guidance and precedents for dealing with digital assets when drafting wills and also covers issues such as the risks for solicitors, data security, access rights and valuing digital assets. A template for a digital assets inventory is also included.

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.

Adoption of core practice management standards, based on Lexcel v.5, is a mandatory requirement for legal practices seeking accreditation under the new Wills and Inheritance Quality Scheme*. To help applicants to understand and comply with these standards, this practical toolkit: describes the requirements of each standard gives advice on implementation sets out example policies, plans and procedures refers to overlapping obligations under the SRA Handbook compares the related obligations of the Wills and Inheritance Protocol (see below). Over 30 example documents are provided in this toolkit, both within the book and on its accompanying CD-ROM. This means you can customise the documents to suit your firm's particular needs. *Practices accredited under Lexcel v.5 already meet the core practice management standards of the Wills and Inheritance Quality Scheme. Members of the Conveyancing Quality Scheme must demonstrate that core practice management standards have been applied across the relevant departments.

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 kit has everything you need to plan your estate, make decisions about how to divide it, and write your own legal will. It's written by an American lawyer and is 100% legal. Creating an estate plan and writing your own will is easy. You don't have to make a complete inventory of your belongings. Just follow the step-by-step instructions in this book and use the forms to create your own will.