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Filter: Trusts
When and how can a trustee resign from a trust?

03 December 2024,  Elani Volschenk

There is often great uncertainty and misconceptions when it comes to the resignation of trustees of a trust. In this... article, we look at the requirements for the resignation of a trustee from an inter vivos trust and a testamentary trust. 

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Trustee administrative duties under the spotlight

03 September 2024,  Elani Volschenk

With new reporting obligations on trustees and SARS intensifying its submission requirements in respect of trust tax returns, no trustee... can afford to ignore the administrative duties imposed upon them in terms of common law and statutory law. In this article we briefly list some of the main administrative duties falling to any trustee.

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Article
New CIPC changes for the filing of annual returns

15 January 2024,  Elani Volschenk

CIPC has again announced changes to the CIPC system for the filing of annual returns and beneficial ownership information, which... introduces mandatory obligations for companies and close corporations when filing their annual returns. 

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Article
When a spouse hides assets away in a trust…

15 January 2024

In a divorce, it may transpire that one spouse has during the marriage transferred assets to a trust. This raises... the question of whether such trust assets are excluded from the calculation of accrual where the parties are married out of community with the accrual system. In this article, we take a look at what has been termed ‘alter ego’ trusts and how our courts treat these when it comes to divorce proceedings.

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Trustees take note – new platform for your trust Beneficial Ownership reporting

06 November 2023,  Elani Volschenk

This October, the Acting Chief Master signed a directive introducing the new electronic platform for reporting Beneficial Ownership information at... the Master following concerns raised about the previously used Google Forms document for providing Beneficial Ownership information to the Master. This new electronic platform will now have to be used for all Beneficial Ownership reporting by trustees. In this article, we take a look at the new platform as well as some of the other aspects flowing from the directive. 

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Estate Planning – a necessary tool in uncertain times

06 November 2023,  André van Niekerk

The last number of years have seen the world go through dramatic changes, pandemics, environmental upheavals, wars, financial volatility and... massive political uncertainty affecting every individual and country in one way or another. South Africans have not been spared with loadshedding, escalating fuel prices and rising inflation further adding to the uncertainty. This makes it feel as if planning for the future is pointless and all you can really do is survive the now. In this article we discuss why this could be a dangerous strategy.

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Important notice for trustees: Enhanced requirements for filing tax returns with SARS

03 July 2023,  Elani Volschenk

With the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act 22 of 2022 (“Amendment Act”) having come into... full effect on 1 April 2023, SARS has updated its Income Tax Return Wizard system to enable SARS to intensely verify the information submitted during tax return season.

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Why trustees must now also record the accountable institutions they engage with

04 May 2023,  Dr Candice Reynders, Elani Volschenk

With the passing of the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act 22 of 2022 (“Amendment Act”)... late in December 2022, a number of critical amendments were introduced to the Trust Property Control Act 57 of 1988 (“Trust Act”), including amongst others the responsibility by trustees to record details about the Accountable Institutions they engage with in their capacity as trustee. In this article, we look a little deeper at this requirement and what it will mean in practice for trustees.

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Trustees take note! How to record your beneficial ownership structure

18 April 2023,  André van Niekerk, Johnny Davis

In a previous article we unpacked the introduction and meaning of the new ‘beneficial owner’ definition introduced into the law... of trusts by the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act 22 of 2022 (“Amendment Act”). With these changes being effective as of 1 April 2023, trustees should be awake to the proposed process for recording and submitting your trust’s beneficial ownership information to the Master of the High Court. 

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New Beneficial Ownership rules for companies and trusts

14 April 2023,  Luhann Prinsloo

With the new General Laws (Anti-money Laundering and Combatting of Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act 22 of 2022 (“Amendment Act”) having... come into operation on 1 April 2023, a new definition of ‘beneficial ownership’ has been formally introduced in a number of key laws affecting all trusts and companies. In this article we delve a bit deeper into this new concept.

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Trustees MUST now report their status! Find out why

30 March 2023,  André van Niekerk, Johnny Davis, Mark le Riche

With major amendments to South Africa’s anti-money laundering framework scheduled to take effect from 1 April 2023 as part of... Government’s strategy to remedy South Africa’s grey listing status, all trustees should take careful note of the new disclosure requirements that will apply to them.

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Don’t forget about your will when getting married or divorced!

28 March 2023,  André van Niekerk

In the highs of getting married or the lows of divorce, parties generally forget to think about their estate planning.... This is understandable as no one wants to entertain thoughts of death and division of assets during those times! Unfortunately, such an oversight can create a mess in the event of your untimely death. The golden rule is to always, when there are material changes in your life like marriage, children, divorce and even death, revisit your estate planning and bring it up to date with the necessary changes. 

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