What does the proposed marriage bill mean for you?

Sanlam posted this article to answer the question: “Are you legally married if you live together in a long-term relationship?” - October 16th, 2023

What does it mean to be a ‘spouse’ in South Africa? Soon, new laws may pass decreeing that unmarried people in committed relationships who have undertaken to support each other can claim from each other’s estates with the same rights as a spouse. However, this is only applicable to certain legal issues and this definition of ‘spouse’ doesn’t apply should a relationship end due to irreconcilable differences.

David Thomson, Senior Legal Adviser at Sanlam Trust, says it’s critical to understand your rights in the relationship and how changes to estate planning laws and the nation’s marriage laws may impact those rights. The proposed motion to rationalise all marriage laws into one overarching Act is also worth noting as it may have a material impact on how you say “I do”.

“Proposed changes to the Intestate Succession and the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act will mean that anyone in a permanent life partnership has a claim on their partner’s estate – the same as any married spouse,” says David. “But in the event of a breakup, the same definition of spouse doesn’t extend to unmarried partners – you must be married under one of South Africa’s marriage acts to ensure your rights are fully defined and protected.”

Currently, South Africa has three marriage acts:

• Marriage Act for monogamous marriage for opposite-sex couples

• Recognition of Customary Marriages Act for polygamous marriages for opposite-sex couples

• Civil Union Act for monogamous partnerships for same- and opposite-sex couples

There is also a Muslim Marriages Bill before parliament to discuss the regulation and legalisation of Muslim marriages. Persons may also be legally married in terms of certain religious practices.

One marriage Act to bind them all

The current proposal is to dissolve all the laws into one ‘master’ Marriage Act. David says, “This draft Bill is out for comment and Sanlam Trust has participated with our feedback. We are, in principle, in favour of such a Bill, but it needs a lot of work, thought and sensitivity because of our diverse, multicultural society. We need to make sure that everybody is included.”

David explains that several challenges and omissions come to light with the proposed Bill.

• Customary marriages As the Bill stands, it won’t retrospectively apply to existing, unregistered traditional marriages, so going forward, all customary marriages need to be registered. Registering these would be a massive undertaking and have the unintended consequence of rendering seemingly valid traditional marriages invalid – which seems to undermine the intention of the Bill which is to “provide for equal legal status and capacity of spouses to a marriage”.

• Polygamous marriages In South Africa, if a man is already married, he will now need to seek court approval regarding the division of his existing estate among his current wife/wives so that their rights are not prejudiced before he marries a new spouse. The default regime in South Africa is in community of property, so he will need to abide by this unless the parties have signed an ante-nuptial contract. This process could be expensive and time-consuming.

• Muslim marriages are traditionally out of community of property, but the proposed law advocates for the default to be in community of property for all marriages. A clause on the definition of marriage by specific religious practices may be needed to resolve this fundamental difference.

• Polyandry In a contentious move, polyandry is completely excluded from the Bill.

• Religious marriages Marriage according to the tenets of a religion is not covered.

“There’s a huge amount of complexity,” David explains. “For example, in a polygamous relationship, what happens when one wife is married in community of property and the other is married out of community of property with accrual? We’re going to need a lot more family courts to help settle these cases and must ensure that consolidating into one Act doesn’t take away any of the rights we’ve worked to accrue, especially for women. Having one Act may be easier for practitioners, but it needs to work for everyone in this diverse nation. All stakeholders need to be extensively consulted.”

Irrespective of whether and how someone is married, it’s crucial that they cater for their life partner in their will. It can be overwhelming to know where to start, but if your needs are pretty straightforward, you can create a will using Sanlam’s free online tool. David says that for more complex estates and circumstances, it’s best to consult a financial adviser or a wills consultant who can ensure your wishes are legally documented to ensure fairness and prevent delays to the winding up of the estate. “They will also ensure the signed will is stored securely. If you’re unmarried and you don’t draft a will, your partner will need to claim against your estate, which could seriously delay the process.”

Source: Here

Bok AI Stats going into the Semi-final.

Both the Boks and the All Blacks overcame challenging assignments last weekend.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) updates regularly. For the quarter-finals last weekend, AI proved to be exceptionally accurate, where some of the results went in favour of teams many didn’t expect.

Even the predicted winning score margins were very close compared to the predictions released before the quarter-final matches.

Showing remarkable accuracy last weekend does make one take a closer look at this weekend’s semi-final predictions, which are.

For the overall title after the completion of the quarter-finals last weekend - New Zealand remain the strong favourite, followed by ourselves.

AI is becoming more prevalent but remember that human interactions are far less predictable. And both the Boks and the All Blacks have rather challenging assignments this weekend.

Friday Food for Thought