All SA Citizens check your Marital status at:

http://www.dha.gov.za/enquiry/marital/status/marital_status.asp

wed@telkomsa.net

or

ido@telkomsa.net

Important Information

1.  A completed Form Bl 32A E is needed if any party is under the age of 18

      Download and print from:  http://www.dha.gov.za/documents/bi-32.pdf

2.  If the Bride is younger than 15 and the Bridegroom is younger than 18,

     permission to the marriage is needed from The Commissioner of Child Welfare.

3.  A completed Form Bl 31 is needed for all Foreigners with no South Africa Identity Document.

      Download and print from: http://www.dha.gov.za/documents/bi-31.pdf

4.  If any party is divorced a certified copy of the final decree of divorce with clear readable stamp of the court is

      needed.    If any divorced party is not a South African Citizen, your copy of Final Divorce Decree needs to be

     Authenticated and not just Certified, at the South African Mission or Embassy in your Country of Origen. See

     attached Letter from SA Home Affairs.

Authentication of divorce documents of Non South African Citizens.pdf

5.  If any party is a widower or widow the death certificate is needed.

6.  If any party is not a South African Citizen, copies of your Passport is needed.

      Copy of the page with the photo and also the page of the Visa or Temporary Resident Permit (Green sticker)

7.  Clear Certified Copies of your ID Documents.

8.  Letter from your lawyer if you get married with a Ante Nuptial Contract.

     (Out of Communal of Property)

9.  In terms of section 26 (1) of the Birth and Death Registration Act,

     as amended, a woman after her Marriage may:

     (a) assume her husband’s surname;

     (b) resume a surname, which she bore at any prior time,

     (c) join her maiden surname or previous married surname with that of her husband or

     (d) retain her  Maiden name

10.  ID Numbers and Full Names and Surname of the witnesses is also required.

Marital Contracts / Marital Regime

Should the client be married it is necessary to distinguish between those assets belonging exclusively to the one spouse and those which are jointly owned. Also, if the client's marriage is subject to the accrual system, an accrual claim in favor of the estate of the one spouse may arise in the event of the dissolution of the marriage or on death. These aspects will be discussed in more detail hereunder.

To determine ownership of assets in a marriage and whether or not an accrual claim exists, one has to understand the nature of the marital regime governing the marriage. Conversely the marital regime determines ownership of assets.

There are three marital regimes, namely:  

(a)   Marriage in community of property;

(b)   Marriage by ante nuptial contract without the accrual system;

(c)   Marriage by ante nuptial contract with the accrual system.

If couples do not enter into an ante nuptial contract (ANC) before they get married, they will automatically be married in community of property (unless they change their marital regime by court order). In November 1984, a new system known as the accrual system was introduced.

Should the client be married according to the laws of a foreign country, it may be necessary to seek the assistance of your local legal adviser to investigate the division of property prevailing in such a marriage.

Set out hereunder is a brief description of the nature of each of the three main marital regimes mentioned above.

Marriage in community of property

Generally speaking, in a marriage in community of property, all the assets the couple own and any debts incurred before marriage, as well as any assets they may acquire or debts they incur during the marriage, form part of a joint estate. Each spouse may lawfully only dispose of his or her undivided half share in a will.

Thus, on termination of a marriage by death of one of the spouses, the surviving spouse is automatically entitled to half of the net joint estate (net being assets less liabilities). The other half will be distributed according to the will of the deceased spouse or, failing a will, according to the laws of intestacy.

Certain assets may, however, be excluded from the joint estate and be the sole property of one of the parties to the marriage:

q       Property which has been donated or bequeathed by a third party to one of the spouses, subject to a proviso that such property shall not form part of the joint estate;

q       Limited interests (usufructuary) and fiduciary rights exclusive to one spouse;

q       Non-patrimonial damages i.e. a claim for damages

q       in terms of the Long term Insurance Act policies taken out by a woman after 01 January 1999 will form part of the joint estate. Those taken out before 01 January 1999 on her life or her husband’s life will be the wife's exclusive property by virtue of the provisions of the Act. Any assets obtained with the proceeds of such policies (policies entered into prior to 01 January 1999) will also not form part of the joint estate.

Marriage by ANC without the accrual system

In this form of marriage each spouse retains separate ownership of assets acquired during the marriage and is liable for his or her own debts.

On termination of the marriage by death or divorce, each spouse keeps whatever he or she separately owns.

In terms of the ANC the one spouse may have undertaken to donate certain assets to the other spouse. This will have an effect on what he/she can bequeath in terms of his/her will. 

Marriage by ANC with the accrual system

The accrual system provides that spouses share on termination of the marriage, by death or divorce, any increase in wealth acquired by their joint efforts during the marriage. However, all assets owned before the marriage will remain the separate property of each spouse. The amount by which each spouse's estate has increased in value during marriage (the accrual) will be calculated separately. The smaller accrual will then be deducted from the larger and the difference divided in half. This final amount is the amount which the spouse with the larger accrual will have to give the spouse with the smaller accrual.

Unless there is a contrary provision in the ANC or the donor or testator stipulates otherwise, certain assets such as donations, legacies and inheritances will be excluded automatically from the accrual (as they are not acquired by the joint efforts of the spouses). The spouses may also agree in their ANC to exclude certain assets from the accrual calculation.

A spouse will only have the right to a half share of the accrual of the other spouse at the end of the marriage. During the marriage each spouse will have control of his/her separate estate and be exclusively responsible for any debts incurred.

In Afrikaans is daar 4 maniere om te trou:

1. Binne Gemeenskap van Goedere

2. Buite Gemeenskap van Goedere

3. Met die oog op Gemeenskap en

4. As gevolg van Gemeenskap !!!

Saturday, 26. September 2009