Hinrichsen Attorneys

Employers are often confronted with their employees’ lacking performance and uncertainty often arises regarding the proper way of addressing such situations. This in turn results in employees not being afforded an opportunity to bring their performance up to the required standard and employers finding themselves on the wrong side of a labour dispute. There is a vast difference in the procedure for dealing with misconduct versus that of poor performance. 

A Last Will and Testament, or simple a will, is a legal document that directs to whom your property will pass to when you die.  A trust is also a legal document created during life or as part of your Will, whereby an individual transfers ownership of property to a trust which is managed by an individual or fiduciary for the benefit of another individual. The document specifies the purpose of the trust along with the terms and conditions by which the assets are to be managed and ultimately distributed to the beneficiaries. The legal requirements for drafting a Will or a Trust are relatively simple yet one mistake can potentially invalidate the Will or Trust entirely. 

There is already a common understanding that in circumstances where an employee is found to have acted negligently, or has caused damage or harm in some way, it is often likely that such an employee’s employer will often be held vicarious liable for the employee’s actions.

In South Africa, various Marital Property Regimes exist, commonly summarised as a marriage in community of property and marriage out of community of property, which is subdivided into out of community of property with the application of the accrual system and, out of community of property without the application of the accrual system.  In South Africa the automatic matrimonial property regime is the marriage in community of property, unless such is excluded by means of entering into an antenuptial contract, prior to the marriage being concluded. It is unfortunately common that couples entering into a marriage do not consult an attorney or neglect carefully considering which regime is best suited for their specific needs. 

Since the enactment of the Children’s Act in 2005, the term “custody” has been replaced in favour of the broader concept of “care”; similarly, the term “access” has been changed to that of “contact”. Despite this change having significant consequences, it is often overlooked or left undiscussed. A major distinction which can be drawn in this regard is that in terms of common law, custody referred to a person’s capacity to control and supervise the child’s daily life, where as the definition of “care” in the new Act is extended beyond mere custody to include, among others, the right to and responsibility for caring, supporting, and guiding the child, as well as assuming responsibility for the child’s general welfare.

Employee share schemes provide opportunities for employees to own shares in the company in which they are employed. They create a means to provide employees with equity which enables a more direct incentive for growth than bonuses or general remuneration. Share purchase plans offer eligible employees the chance to purchase shares, sometimes through a loan from their employer. The shares are often paid for through salary sacrifice over a set period (for example, 6 months), or by using the dividends received on the shares. Some share purchase plans also allow employees to pay for the shares in full, up front.  Employees on higher incomes are often eligible to receive shares as a performance bonus, or as a form of remuneration, instead of receiving a higher salary.

A universal partnership is an express or tacit agreement between two parties, including same-sex couples who choose to live together in a permanent relationship without marrying. They share the same responsibilities and obligations of a married couple, including their present and future assets. In other words, all of their property is owned jointly during the relationship. When looking at the legal consequences, our law does not give automatic rights to partners in a cohabitation relationship. If one of the parties dies without leaving a Will, the domestic partner is not legally entitled to inherit or to claim maintenance from the deceased’s estate. An aggrieved party would have to go to court to show that the parties were partners in a ‘universal partnership’ and that the one party owes something to the other.