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Here’s one more reason to never ever allow yourself or anyone else to drive when over the legal limit (for non-professional drivers, a breath alcohol content of 0.24mg per 1,000ml or a blood alcohol limit of 0.05g per 100ml). If you are caught by the police (statistically, a regular offender will be caught sooner or later –Read more

“Buy land – they’ve stopped making it” (Mark Twain) So you’ve decided to buy your first house – exciting! There’s nothing like owning and living in your very own dream house, and if you choose wisely your home could well be one of your most important investments ever. Get started with these tips – First,Read more

“A man who dies without a will has lawyers for his heirs” (Anon)   It’s natural not to want to make plans for our own mortality, but we owe it to ourselves and our loved ones to do exactly that, and to do it without delay. Why? Sooner or later we all die. No oneRead more

“…prescription started its deadly trudge on the day the loan at issue in these proceedings was advanced” (extract from judgment below) You will know that most debts prescribe (become unclaimable) after 3 years, so as a creditor you need to know exactly when it starts running. From that moment on, the clock is ticking… A recent Constitutional CourtRead more

“Beware the wolf in sheep’s clothing” (Aesop’s Fables) Cybercrime levels are surging, and it didn’t take the scammers long to figure out that when you buy and sell property you become a prime target because of course – Property transactions provide rich pickings, often very rich pickings. Electronic communication between attorneys and clients, which isRead more

“Somewhat ironically, given the fact that the phrase “not a sausage” is originally derived from the Cockney rhyming slang “sausages and mash” meaning “cash”, they got away with not a sausage from the butchery but a great deal of cash” (extract from judgment below) When you employ a security company to provide alarm monitoring andRead more

“…aye, there’s the rub” (Shakespeare) Levies are the lifeblood of a sectional title scheme, and the Body Corporate has a duty to recover arrears from defaulting owners. It has the power, in addition to following standard debt collection procedures and perhaps approaching the Community Schemes Ombud for assistance, to apply for the sequestration of theRead more

Your debtor owes you a fortune, but when his estate is sequestrated there is nothing in his own name. However you find out that he is trustee of a wealthy family trust with lots of assets that you think are really his – can you recover from his trust? The answer is yes, you can,Read more

A recent Labour Court decision shows how dangerous it is as an employer, when attempting to dismiss an employee, not to draw a clear distinction between misconduct and incapacity. Disciplined for depression An employee, whose track record had originally been an excellent one, was charged at a disciplinary enquiry with four charges of misconduct –Read more

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet” (Shakespeare) You cannot lawfully use any surname in South Africa other than the one shown in the National Population Register (NPR), and trying to do so will land you in a lot of hassle and probably inRead more