SometimesEaglesCryFinalSortOF

Day 29:
1Samuel 1:1-2

In the story of Hannah we find several different things that can cause depression, anxiety, eating
disorders and other things along those lines. As is common, she had several things working
against her at once.

First of all, we see that Hannah had the perennial problem of the "crowded marriage." Her
husband had two wives, and as we see, it did not work out too well for her.

Without children, Hannah looked like a failure. Many people would assume she was "not right with
God." In her depression, Hannah fell face down in the presence of God and poured out her heart
to Him, and in His precious grace, He heard her cry.

The Eagle tests before it trusts. When a female eagle meets a male and they want to mate, she
flies down to earth with the male pursuing her and she picks a twig. She flies back into the air with
the male pursuing her.

Once she has reached a height high enough for her, she lets the twig fall to the ground and watches
it as it falls. The male chases after the twig. The faster it falls, the faster he chases it. He has to
catch it before it falls to the ground. He then brings it back to the female eagle.

The female eagle grabs the twig and flies to a higher altitude and then drops the twig for the male to
chase. This goes on for hours, with the height increasing until the female eagle is assured that the
male eagle has mastered the art of catching the twig which shows commitment. Then and only then,
will she allow him to mate with her.

Prayer:
You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagle’s wings and
brought you to myself. (Exodus 19:4).

Day 30:
1 Samuel 1:8

Elkanah was distressed at Hannah's depression. He could not understand why he could not make
her happy. He tried to encourage her, but he did not understand why she was not content with just
him, though he was so very good to her.

This can be a common problem in loving families when one member is suffering from depression.
It disrupts marriage and family relationships. It can strain people's feelings and make them
question the sufferer as well as themselves.

Until a person has suffered from themselves, or been very close to someone who has, it is hard to
imagine how it can so completely engulf and overwhelm a life.

There are, however, some ways we can help others in their depression:

Helping them in practical ways, such as shopping for them, taking care of the children, and
answering the phone.
Being available to talk when they feel like doing so, but not insisting on conversation.
Inviting them to be involved in activities with you.
Praying for them and with them.
Helping them to see options they might consider as they struggle to get back on their feet.

If you are the one who is depressed, the same principles apply.

Prayer:

I cry out to You, God Most High, to You who fulfils Your purpose for me. You send from heaven
and save me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me. You send Your love and Your faithfulness.
(Ps.57:2-3)



ACCEPTANCE

Day 31:
Psalm. 55:22

Acceptance does not mean that the pain is gone. Nor does it mean that I like what has happened. It
simply means that I have stopped fighting the inevitable, and to the best of my ability, I am trying to
adapt to the new situation with grace and dignity.

C.S. Lewis expressed this stage of grief beautifully when he wrote about the comments of
observers who assume he is ‘getting over’ the grief of his wife’s death.

“Getting over it so soon? But the words are ambiguous. To say the patient is getting over it after an
operation for appendicitis is one thing; after he’s had his leg off is quite another. After that
operation either the wounded stump heals or the man dies. If it heals, the fierce, continuous pain
will stop. Presently he’ll get back his strength and be able to stump about on his wooden leg. He
has ‘got over it.’ But he will probably have recurrent pains in the stump all his life, and perhaps
pretty bad ones; and he will always be a one-legged man. There will be hardly any moments
when he forgets it. Bathing, dressing, sitting down and getting up even lying in bed, will be
different…All sorts of pleasures and activities that he once took for granted will have to be simply
written off. Duties too. At present I am learning to get about on crutches. Perhaps I shall
presently be given a wooden leg. But I shall never be a two-footed creature again.”

The moulting seasons in our lives are times of weakness and reflection of where we truly are in
Christ. We need these times if we are to grow and mature. Many times it will be painful, but we
can rest assured that the Lord will not give us more than we can endure. The blessing of spiritual

promotion and anointing awaits those who embrace rather than resist the moulting season.

Prayer:

I choose to cast my cares on You, Lord, and You will sustain me. (Ps. 55:22)

Day 32:
Job 1:21

Job understood the principle that is stated so often throughout the scriptures. He had just lost
everything, but he still knew that life is more than food and the body more than clothing.

He recognized the truthfulness of Paul's statement, “For we brought nothing into this world,
and it
is certain that we can carry nothing out” (1 Tim.
6:7).

Many people react to crisis and tragedy by asking, "Why me?" blaming God for their pain,
and even turning away from the Lord. Yet in the midst of all his suffering Job continued to
acknowledge his dependence on God. Later he said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”
(Job 13.15). Job had no idea why all this was happening to him, but he continued to trust
God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those
who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:18, 28). Thus, we can be assured that
God does have a plan whether we recognize it or not.

Whatever happens, God is still there, He is still in control, and He always cares for us (1 Pet.
5:7). He may not necessarily remove the difficulties that we face, as in the case of Paul's
thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:8-10). However, He will bless us as we have need and finally
glorify us, promising that if we remain faithful until death we shall receive the crown of life
(Rev. 2:10).

Pr
ay
er:

Praise be to You, Lord, You showed Your wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged
city. (Ps. 31:21).

Day 33:
Job 42

Job ended up much better off than he was in the beginning. He had considerably more than when
he began his suffering and even though God did not answer Job why he was allowed to suffer so
terribly, in the end Job had more blessings than any man or the face of the earth at that time.

Someday in eternity, God will likely make it clear why Christians suffer – why something terrible was
allowed to happen or why their child was allowed to die. It is as God once said in Isaiah 45:9, “Woe
to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the
ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no
hands’?”

We cannot question God’s motives. His ways are beyond human comprehension but clearly He
does have a purpose in suffering. As God tells Isaiah, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so
are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah. 55:9). He
sometimes chooses not to reveal this to believers – at least in this life.

Eagles love the storm. When clouds gather, the eagles get excited. The eagle uses the storm’s
wind to lift it higher. Once it finds the wind of the storm, the eagle uses the raging storm to lift him
above the clouds. This gives the eagle an opportunity to glide and rest its wings. In the meantime,
all the other birds hide in the leaves and branches of the trees.

We can use the storms of life to rise to greater heights. Achievers relish challenges and use them
profitably.

Prayer:
Mighty God, be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me,
forYou are my rock and my fortress. (Ps. 73:3).

Day 34:
Deuteronomy. 32;49-50

We know that Moses lived to be 120 years old. This great man of God who spoke with the Lord
face to face, came to a point where he accepted God's will, and was ready to yield his spirit to God
his friend. Moses was commanded by God to ascend Mount Nebo from where he would be able to
see the Promised Land. It was here that he died and Moses was buried by the Lord and the place
of his burial was kept secret from all men.

When ready to lay eggs, the female and male eagle identify a place very high on a cliff where no
predators can reach. The male flies to earth and picks thorns and lays them on the crevice of the
cliff, then flies to earth again to collect twigs which he lays in the intended nest. He flies back to
earth and picks thorns laying them on top of the twigs. He flies back to earth and picks soft grass
to cover the thorns. When this first layering is complete the male eagle runs back to earth and
picks more thorns, lays them on the nest; runs back to get grass it on top of the thorns, then
plucks his feathers to complete the nest. The thorns on the outside of the nest protect it from
possible intruders. Both male and female eagles participate in raising the eagle family. She lays
the eggs and protects them; he builds the nest and hunts. During the time of training the young ones
to fly, the mother eagle throws the eaglets out of the nest. Because they are scared, they jump into
the nest again.

Next, she throws them out and then takes off the soft layers of the nest, leaving the thorns bare
When the scared eaglets again jump into the nest, they are pricked by thorns. Shrieking and
bleeding they jump out again this time wondering why the mother and father who love them so
much are torturing them. Next, mother eagle pushes them off the cliff into the air. As they shriek in
fear, father eagle flies out and catches them up on his back before they fall and brings them back
to the cliff. This goes on for some time until they start flapping their wings. They get excited at this
newfound knowledge that they can fly.

The preparation of the nest teaches us to prepare for changes; The preparation for the family
teaches us that active participation of both partners leads to success; The being pricked by the
thorns tells us that sometimes being too comfortable where we are may result into our not
experiencing life, not progressing and not learning at all. The thorns of life come to teach us that
we need to grow, get out of the nest and live on. We may not know it but the seemingly
comfortable and safe haven may have thorns.

The people who love us do not let us languish in sloth but push us hard to grow and prosper. Even
in their seemingly bad actions they have good intentions for us.

Prayer:
I commit my way to You, Lord; I trust in You and You will do this: You will make my righteousness
shine like the dawn, the justice of my cause like the noonday sun. (Ps. 37:5-6).

Day 35:
2 Corinthians 12:7-9

No one knows for sure what Paul's thorn in the flesh was. There have been various theories
offered, such as a chronic sickness and bad eyesight. Maybe it was the Jews in general
because they hounded him relentlessly wherever he went, and on occasions, they incited the
crowds to riot against Paul and his associates. The Apostle Paul was a threat to the Jews
because Christianity was growing, and so that threatened their own following and positions
of power. Maybe it was even a physical illness or disease that made it difficult to travel. If so,
many would have undoubtedly looked down upon him for this affliction. They would have
seen it as a sign that God was punishing him for his “blasphemous teachings” that Jesus was
God and was raised from the dead. It’s likely the Jews made a big deal out of Paul’s thorn,
whatever it was. Whatever it may have been, Paul, having prayed for it to be removed three
times, was willing to accept God’s portion for him without complaint.

When an Eagle grows old, his feathers become weak and cannot take him as fast as he
should go. When he feels weak and about to die, he retires to a place far away in the rocks.
While there, he plucks out every feather on his body until he is completely bare. He stays in
this hiding place for forty days, until he has grown new feathers, then he can come out.
We occasionally need to shed off old habits & items that burden us without adding to our
lives.

Prayer:
One thing I ask of You, Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all
the days of my life, to gaze upon Your beauty and to seek You in Your temple. For in
the day of trouble You will keep me safe in Your dwelling; You will hide me in the Shelter of
Your tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. (Ps. 27:4-5)



THE UPWARD TURN

Day 36:
Matthew 26:42

Jesus was not asking God to let Him avoid the cup, but was asking to let Him take on as
much of it as He possibly could, and if possible, if it was God’s will, to let Him drink every
single drop, down the bitter end. So Jesus, in His prayers to His Father, is saying,
God, this is why I have come. This is why I am here. This has been our plan from the very
beginning. I want this. I want to drink this cup. I want to drink it fully. I want to drink every drop. I will
not pass any bit of it on to the rest of humanity. I want to drink fully of the cup of your wrath (Jer.
25:17-38; Isa 51:17-23). This is how much I love them. This is how much I long for their
redemption and forgiveness. Let me do this. This is my will. But ultimately, God, it is up to you. It is
your choice.
In His prayer, Jesus was asking God to finish what they had started. He was and is totally submitted
to the Father, totally willing to accept the cup that was given to Him.
More 7 stages of grief...
THE UPWARD TURN- As you start to adjust to life without your dear one, your life becomes a
little calmer and more organized. Your physical symptoms lessen, and your "depression" begins to
lift slightly.
You will start to look forward and actually plan things for the future. Eventually, you will be able to
think about your lost loved one without pain; sadness, yes, but the wrenching pain will be gone. You
will once again anticipate some good times to come, and yes, even find joy again in the experience
of living.
The analogy of the eagle appears more than thirty times in the Bible, sometimes to describe God as
a parent eagle in a nest caring for His children, and often to metaphorically give us a picture that we
can relate to, about growth in our Christian life.
Prayer:
You, O Lord, will never leave me, never will You forsake me. (Heb. 13:5). You are the only
absolute guarantee I have in all of life Day 36: Matthew 26:42

Jesus was not asking God to let Him avoid the cup, but was asking to let Him take on as
much of it as He possibly could, and if possible, if it was God’s will, to let Him drink every
single drop, down the bitter end. So Jesus, in His prayers to His Father, is saying,

God, this is why I have come. This is why I am here. This has been our plan from the very
beginning. I want this. I want to drink this cup. I want to drink it fully. I want to drink every drop. I
will not pass any bit of it on to the rest of humanity. I want to drink fully of the cup of your wrath
(Jer. 25:17-38; Isa 51:17-23). This is how much I love them. This is how much I long for their
redemption and forgiveness. Let me do this. This is my will. But ultimately, God, it is up to you. It is
your choice.

In His prayer, Jesus was asking God to finish what they had started. He was and is totally
submitted to the Father, totally willing to accept the cup that was given to Him.

More 7 stages of grief...

THE UPWARD TURN-
As you start to adjust to life without your dear one, your life becomes a little calmer and more
organized. Your physical symptoms lessen, and your "depression" begins to lift slightly.

You will start to look forward and actually plan things for the future. Eventually, you will be able to
think about your lost loved one without pain; sadness, yes, but the wrenching pain will be gone
You will once again anticipate some good times to come, and yes, even find joy again in the
experience of living.

The analogy of the eagle appears more than thirty times in the Bible, sometimes to describe God as
a parent eagle in a nest caring for His children, and often to metaphorically give us a picture that
we can relate to, about growth in our Christian life.

Prayer:

You, O Lord, will never leave me, never will You forsake me. (Heb. 13:5). You are the only absolute
guarantee I have in all of life. Help me cling to the one thing I can never lose.

Day 37:
Genesis. 50:20

It's worth repeating what Joseph was able to say twenty years after he lost everything through the
hatred and cruelty of his brothers: "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to
accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives" (Gen. 50:20).

Joseph certainly couldn't have said those words the first thirteen years of his life in Egypt, but he
saw God's purpose clearly seven years later. Sometimes it may take years for us to see the
pattern God had in mind when He brought sorrow into our lives. But we do know this: God is
sovereign. Nothing happens in heaven or earth that He does not know about and even permit.
That is tough theology. But if we don't believe it we will swing aimlessly over an abyss of unbelief,
uncertainty, and despair.

In the loss you have suffered, consider these important questions:
Did it draw you closer to God?
Have you seen answers to prayer because of it?
Have you been able to help others just because of what you've experienced yourself?
Do you have more compassion for others?

God uses everything in our lives to make us more like Jesus. And Jesus was a "man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief' (Isa. 53:3 NKJV). How can we bypass sorrow and grief and still expect to
develop emotional and spiritual maturity? We just can't decide to skip that course!

Let us too embrace His process in our lives as we will Moult and become new and strong Eagles.

Prayer

Lord please draw me closer to you, encourage me to encourage others. Break my heart with what
break yours and let me go out and help others more needy than me.

RECONSTRUCTION & WORKING THROUGH

Day 38:
Exodus. 34:4

Jesus came, in part, to reveal to us what the invisible God is like. What Jesus felt, God still
feels. Listen to the Lord's description of Himself to Moses in Exodus 34:6: "The LORD, the
LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and
faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin."
Compassion, anger, and love are all emotions. God feels, so He knows how we feel
when we suffer loss. As the psalmist wrote, "But you, 0 God, do see trouble and grief; you
consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you" (Ps. 10:14).

As you become more functional, your mind starts working again, and you will find yourself
seeking realistic solutions to problems posed by life without your loved one. You will start to
work on practical and financial problems and reconstructing yourself and your life without him
or her.

Those who emerge victoriously through their moulting season have greater wisdom greater
compassion and can soar higher and with less effort. They do not waste their energy bucking
the tide or wind but use it to their advantage to sail and soar. They are eager to help other
moulting eagles pass safely through the moulting process. They don’t view them as sick or
deformed but assist those going through the process of renewal. They even drop fresh meat
into their nests or onto their perches and encourage them with acrobatic performances.



ACCEPTANCE & HOPE-

Day 39:
Luke 7:13

During Jesus' ministry, He came upon a funeral procession. The dead person was the only son of
a widow, and she was accompanied by a large crowd of mourners, who shared her grief. In Luke
7:13, we read of Jesus' reaction to this tragic scene: "When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to
her and he said, 'Don't cry."

Then Jesus touched the coffin, "and those carrying it stood still. He said, 'Young man, I say to you
get up!' The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother."

The response to this wonderful miracle demonstrated to the people that God was a God of
compassion. The people "were all filled with awe and praised God. 'A great prophet has appeared
among us,' they said. 'God has come to help his people" (Luke 7:16).

The widow's loss and the ensuing miracle were used by God to validate the claims of Jesus that
He is the Son of God. God will still use our grief to bring glory and praise to Himself if we keep on
trusting Him.

During this, the last of the seven stages in this grief model, you learn to accept and deal with the
reality of your situation. Acceptance does not necessarily mean instant happiness. Given the pain
and turmoil you have experienced, you can never return to the carefree, untroubled YOU that
existed before this tragedy. But you will find a way forward.

The moulting seasons in our lives are times of weakness and reflection of where we truly are in
Christ. We need these times if we are to grow and mature. Many times it will be painful, but we
can rest assured that the Lord will not give us more than we can endure. The blessing of spiritual
promotion and anointing awaits those who embrace rather than resist the moulting season.

Prayer:
You say to me Lord, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Therefore I will boast all

Day 40:
Isaiah 40:31

When we are hurting, there are two extremes to avoid. One extreme is to block our emotions,
determined that we will never care so much that we can be hurt that way again. It is unhealthy to
block our emotions to protect ourselves. God wants us to feel so we are able to taste life in its
fullness. The other extreme is becoming so consumed by our grief that nothing else matters. The
best thing to do is to get back into the normal process of life again.

One day a young man asked his Master, “I fear death. How can I get rid of this fear?”

“Tell me,” the old man answered, “When you borrow a few coins, are you afraid to give them back
later?”
“Of course not,” the student answered with surprise, “but what does this have to do with my fear?”
The teacher picked up a small piece of soil from the ground and continued, “You have received
your body in debt with required return. And every bite of bread eaten by you, every sip of water
drank by you increases that debt. You are made from dust on which you walk and the ground is
your main creditor, constantly reminding you of this debt. It is pulling you down towards it. In the
end, the ground will swallow you whole, without any remains.”

The old man threw the soil into the air, after attaining its fall, he finished, “No matter how high you
rise, how long you are in the flight, you will still need to fall down. That is given. And to cope with the
fear of this fall is very easy – stop thinking about yourself as the master of your body. Face the
thought that you are just a tenant. And because you don’t know the length of your rent, remember
that it can end at any second. We are all debtors, and our debts will certainly be recovered, no
matter if we are afraid of it or not. So is there a point of being afraid?”

You will start to look forward and actually plan things for the future. Eventually, you will be able to
think about your lost loved one without pain; sadness, yes, but the wrenching pain will be gone.
You will once again anticipate some good times to come, and yes, even find joy again in the
experience of living.

You have made it through the 7 stages of grief.

Isaiah 40:31
But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and they shall not faint.

Bibliography

❖ C.S. Lewis, A grief Observed, New York: Seabury Press, 1961, pp7-9, p43.
❖ Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, On Death and Dying, New York: MacMillan Publishing 1969,

p.82, p138.
❖ John W. James and Frank Cherry, The Grief Recovery Handbook: A Step-by-Step Program for

Moving Beyond Loss, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988, pp.22-23.
❖ Mildred Tengborn, Grief For a Season, Minneapolis, MN, Bethany House 1989, pp.137-138.
❖ Christian Medical Society Journal, vol. V, number 4, 1974.
❖ http://www.hopeinhull.com/Eagle%20Series.htm
❖ Dr. Myles Monroe, 7 Principles Of An Eagle
❖ Beth Moore, Praying God’s Word, B&H Publishing Group, 2001.



2013 ARTICLE: WHEN DEATH INTERVENES by Laura du Preez

This article was first published in the fourth-quarter 2013 edition of Personal Finance
magazine.

Your marriage or permanent relationship affects your assets not only while you are alive, but also after
your death. Couples need to be aware of a number of issues to ensure that after one spouse or
partner dies, the other is not financially prejudiced.

Having a valid will can prevent many problems, but couples should also get advice on how their
estates will be wound up to ensure that financial problems do not arise. Problems that typically arise
are the executor being forced to sell assets to meet liabilities, such as taxes, executor’s fees and other
debts, and the estate not providing enough for the surviving spouse to maintain his or her standard of
living.

It is important to check exactly what expenses, such as capital gains tax, estate duty, executor’s fees
and accrual claims, are likely to be incurred by the estate. Once these have been taken into account,
you can calculate just what will be left to support your dependants.

Estate planning essentials

Tiny Carroll, estate planning specialist for Glacier Fiduciary Services, says that when an estate planner
or financial adviser helps you, as a couple or an individual in a permanent relationship, with your
estate plan, he or she should ask you three vital questions about your marital status.

1. Are you a spouse or not?

The first question is whether you and your partner qualify as “spouses” in terms of the Estate Duty
Act, because the first-dying spouse can leave assets to the other free of estate duty, and the second-
dying spouse can make use of any unused portion of the estate duty exemption of the first-dying
spouse to offset any estate duty that his or her estate may attract.

Estate duty is levied at 20 percent of your estate, but the Estate Duty Act exempts from duty any
amounts left to a spouse as defined in the Act, as well as the first R3.5 million of your net estate (after
liabilities have been deducted).

If the first-dying spouse does not use the full R3.5 million exemption, which is often the case when
spouses leave everything to each other, the estate of the second-dying spouse is entitled to use any
unused portion of that exemption, known as the rollover of estate duty exemption. This means the
estate of the second- dying spouse could enjoy an estate duty exemption of up to R7 million.

The Estate Duty Act defines a spouse as someone who was, at the time of the death of the deceased,
a partner of such person:

– In a marriage or customary union recognised in terms of South African
law;

– In a union recognised as a marriage in accordance with the tenets of any
religion; or

– In a same-gender or heterosexual union that the Commissioner of the South African Revenue
Service
(SARS) is satisfied is intended to be
permanent.

* If you are married in community of property, the executor will deal with the joint estate when the first
spouse dies. Joint assets could be frozen, creating problems for the surviving spouse who does not have
his or her own accounts (see “When assets are frozen”, below).

On the death of the first spouse, executor’s fees of up to 3.99 percent of the estate will be payable
on the entire estate. Estate duty will apply only to 50 percent of the assets. Executor’s fees will also
be levied on the estate of the second-dying spouse. If the first-dying spouse leaves all his or her
assets to the second- dying spouse, this could mean executor’s fees are paid twice on the same
assets.

Couples married in community of property need to be aware that they each own 50 percent of the
joint estate and to take care when bequeathing assets to anyone other than the surviving spouse.

* If you are married out of community of property with accrual and the surviving spouse has an
accrual claim against the estate, this will be a liability against the estate that must be deducted
before the estate can be distributed to the beneficiaries named in the will.

There may not be a problem if the first-dying spouse leaves his or her entire estate to the surviving
spouse, but a problem could arise if the first-dying spouse bequeaths certain assets to another party,
leaving insufficient readily realisable assets in the estate to meet the accrual claim.

For example, a businessman leaves his business to his children from a previous marriage and his
home, worth R1.5 million, to his wife. Both spouses had no assets when they married, but the
husband amassed an estate that, net of liabilities, amounted to R7 million by the time he died. The
surviving spouse has a net estate of only R1 million. The accrual claim would be R3 million ([R7 million
– R1 million] ÷ 2). There may well be a shortfall in liquid assets in the estate to meet the R3 million
accrual claim.

Also consider the problems that could arise if the wife, with a net estate of only R1 million, dies first,
leaving her assets to her children from a previous marriage, and the estate has an accrual claim
against the surviving spouse, the husband. The husband, with the R7-million estate, will need to find
R3 million to pay into the estate of his wife. He may have to sell his business so that the executor can
distribute the assets to the heirs of the wife.

You should also remember that a life policy on the life of the deceased that pays into the estate can
influence the accrual claim. In the case of the first-dying spouse having a bigger net estate, a policy
that pays into the estate will increase the accrual claim for the surviving spouse.

* If you are married out of community of property without accrual, or are partners in religious
unions or domestic partnerships, the estates will be dealt with separately and there will be no debts
owed from one to another unless there is a maintenance obligation (see below).

If you were married in community of property, out of community of property with or without accrual, by
religious rites or by customary rites, you should have a marriage certificate and therefore have no
problem proving you qualify as a spouse in terms of the Estate Duty Act.

Partners in same-gender or heterosexual unions recognised under the Civil Union Act should also
have no problem, but those whose unions are not formally recognised need to prove to the
Commissioner of the SARS that they were in a permanent relationship before they may bequeath all
their assets to each other without incurring any estate duty. Carroll says you need the best proof
possible, which is probably a cohabitation agreement, but an affidavit made by the partners may also
be adequate.

Wessel Oosthuizen, the director of the Centre for Financial Planning Law at the University of the
Free State, says that to recognise a union as permanent for the purposes of the Estate Duty Act, the

commissioner will need proof of the permanency of the relationship. He says an affidavit to that effect
from a relative may not suffice as proof.

To take advantage of the remaining portion of a deceased spouse’s estate duty exemption, as well as
your own exemption (in other words, an exemption of up to R7 million), you will need the estate
duty return of the deceased spouse and proof of your marriage, religious marriage or permanent
relationship.

Carroll says it costs R9 to get a copy of the estate duty return of the first-dying spouse from the
Master of the High Court, and you should file this document with your other important documents.

2. Is there an antenuptial contract?

The second question the estate planner needs to ask a couple is whether there is an
antenuptial agreement.

An antenuptial agreement is a written contract made by two people before they marry that sets
out the terms of the possession of assets, the treatment of their future earnings, the control each
partner will have over the property of the other, and the division of assets if the marriage is dissolved.

If there is no antenuptial contract, the Estate Duty Act states that the marriage should be regarded as
being in community of property, but Carroll says an estate planner should not just accept that the
absence of an antenuptial contract means the marriage is in community of property.

For example, he says, people married in the United Kingdom are automatically married in terms
of a
system which is similar to South Africa’s out-of-community-of-property marital
regime.

Polygamous customary marriages entered into before November 15, 2000 and governed by
customary law are regarded as out of community, and if the Muslim Marriages Bill comes into effect as
proposed, the automatic regime for these marriages will be out of community of property.

Carroll says that your estate planner should also check whether any assets have indeed been
excluded from an out-of-community-of-property estate to which accrual applies. To do this, your
planner must see your antenuptial agreement, Carroll says.

A testator or donor can leave or donate an asset to you subject to a provision that excludes the asset
from an in-community-of-property estate or one to which an accrual claim could apply. In
terms of the Matrimonial Property Act, such an asset is excluded from the accrual calculation.

However, the Matrimonial Property Act does not say anything about assets received before the
marriage. Carroll says that, unless such an asset is excluded in the antenuptial contract, it will be
assumed that the parties intended that it should be included, and the asset will be taken into account
when calculating the accrual claim.

3. Was there a previous marriage?

The third question your estate planner needs to ask is whether or not you are a surviving spouse of
any previous marriage, as this may entitle you to an unused portion of the estate duty abatement.

Carroll says if more than one spouse has predeceased you, your executor can choose to roll over to
your estate the highest unused estate duty abatement from the estates of the spouses who
predeceased you.

Other taxes

In planning your estate, couples should be aware that the definition of a spouse in terms of the Income
Tax Act is essentially the same as it is in the Estate Duty Act. In terms of the Income Tax Act, spouses
are entitled to make donations to each other free of donations tax.

If an asset is transferred to a spouse, the Income Tax Act also provides for rollover relief on any CGT
that may apply to the capital gains made on an asset. Death is regarded as a disposal for CGT
purposes, but if the asset is left to a surviving spouse, as defined by the Income Tax Act, rather than
to a third party, the surviving spouse is treated as having obtained the asset at the same time, at the
same cost, in the same currency, and for use in the same manner as the original owner. Only when
the surviving spouse dies, will the CGT need to be paid.

The Transfer Duty Act exempts from transfer duty any property transfer made as a result of a
death.

Maintenance of surviving spouse

Ideally, the spouse with greater earning capacity should make provision for the one of lesser
means, so that, in the event of his or her death, the surviving spouse can maintain the standard of
living to which he or she has become accustomed.

Typically, the spouse with greater earning capacity or assets would make provision by way of a life
policy or by bequeathing assets to the surviving spouse.

Instances do, however, arise, particularly in cases where one or both spouses are in a second
marriage, where the first-dying spouse leaves assets to someone other than the surviving spouse – for
example, children from a previous marriage – and the surviving spouse is left worse off.

In this case, the surviving spouse can lay a claim in terms of the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses
Act against the estate of the deceased spouse. This Act, which was promulgated in 1990, states that
the surviving spouse who is not able to provide for his or her “reasonable maintenance needs” from
his or her own means and earnings can claim from the estate for these needs until his or her death
or remarriage. This claim, will, however, have the same status as a claim for maintenance for a
dependent child of the deceased.

The Act also says that the executor of the estate of the deceased shall have the power to enter into an
agreement with the survivor and the heirs and legatees who have an interest in such an agreement. It
also gives the executor power to set up a trust for the survivor, or to impose an obligation on an heir
or legatee to settle the claim of the survivor.

When determining “reasonable maintenance needs”, the Act states that the following factors should
be considered:

* The amount in the estate that is available for distribution to the heirs and
legatees;

* The existing and expected means, earning capacity, financial needs and obligations of the survivor,
and how long the marriage lasted; and* The standard of living of the survivor during the marriage and
his or her age when the deceased died.

The rights of a surviving spouse under this Act were tested in a case that came before the Supreme Court
in 2010. The case illustrates how important it is to secure necessary income for a spouse who is incapable
of supporting his or herself.

Marjorie Feldman married Lionel Feldman out of community of property when she was 60 and he was 70.
They remained married for 18 years until he died in 2005. They each had two children from a previous
marriage.

Marjorie Feldman worked until she was 75 and thereafter was supported by Lionel Feldman. In his will,
Feldman left Marjorie Feldman only R150 000. The balance of his estate was left to his children.

After her husband’s death, Marjorie Feldman instituted a claim against Lionel Feldman’s estate for R671
000 for maintenance. The estate’s executors, Lionel Feldman’s daughter and son-in-law, Beverly and
Stanley Oshry, denied the claim, saying Marjorie Feldman’s sons were obliged to maintain her.

Both the Durban High Court and the Supreme Court found in Marjorie Feldman’s favour. The Supreme
Court of Appeal said Marjorie Feldman could not compel her children to support her unless she had taken
all the necessary steps to enforce her rights against her husband.

The Supreme Court, however, found there were insufficient assets to pay the lump sum required for
maintenance, as R819 000 of the R1.3-million estate was the proceeds of policies in which Lionel Feldman
had named his son and daughter as beneficiaries. Marjorie Feldman could not claim against these
proceeds.

Of the remaining R528 000 in the estate, the court estimated that about R200 000 would remain after the
funeral costs, bequests, legal fees (R122 000) and executor’s fees were paid. The court ordered that the
executors pay this residue of the estate as a lump sum to Marjorie Feldman for her maintenance claim.

The judges had harsh words for the executors, saying it was regrettable that they had adopted an
intractable and obstructive attitude to Marjorie Feldman’s maintenance claim and subjected the aged and
vulnerable Ms Feldman, then in her eighties, to protracted litigation.

“The parties are the poorer for it, materially, as well as in human currency,” the judgment says.

Dying intestate

Ideally, each spouse or partner in a relationship should have a will and provide for each other in the event
of one dying before the other. In reality, spouses or partners often do not make wills, or one of them does
not make a will or one of their wills is declared invalid. In these cases, the deceased is said to have died
intestate and the Intestate Succession Act will determine how the surviving spouse or partner will inherit
from the other.

The Act states that if the person who dies intestate is survived by a spouse, but not a descendant (a child),
the spouse will inherit the estate. If the deceased had a spouse and children, the estate is divided equally
among the children and the spouse, but the spouse must inherit at least the amount set by the Minister of
Justice. That amount is currently R125 000. If a child has predeceased the spouse, but is survived by his or
her children, the deceased child’s portion must go to his or her children.

Further provisions are made for those who die intestate without a spouse or a
children

Partnerships: legal grey areas

The Intestate Act does not define a spouse, and the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act defines a
“survivor” as the surviving spouse in a marriage dissolved by death and, under certain conditions, a
woman in a customary marriage that was dissolved by her husband entering into a civil marriage.

This means surviving partners of long-term partnerships, including marriages not recognised by
the Marriage Act, Civil Union Act or Recognition of Customary Marriages Act, who believe they should
inherit from their long-term partners’ intestate estates or want to claim maintenance from their
partners’ estates may have difficulty doing so.

Recent court cases have found in favour of long-term partners not in marriages or partnerships
recognised by the Marriage Act, Civil Union Act or Recognition of Customary Marriages Act. But
despite this, the executors of deceased estates are not able to automatically recognise a
partner in a permanent relationship, because these partners are still not recognised as such for the
purposes of the Intestate Succession Act and the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act, Oosthuizen
says.

He says the cases do not change the legislation itself; a legislator must change the law. This means
that surviving partners of a heterosexual or same-gender partnership, or a partnership recognised in
terms of a religion but which is not solemnised in terms of the Marriage Act, Civil Union Act or the
Recognition of Customary Marriages Act, will have to apply to court for a ruling in their favour before
they can qualify to inherit from an intestate estate or claim maintenance from a deceased estate,
Oosthuizen says.

Applying to a court would delay the winding up of the estate and is also likely to incur legal costs. It is
thus better to ensure that your partner provides for you by way of an agreement between you, a
valid will or a life policy in which you are named as the beneficiary. There is, however, a risk that
a will or life policy naming you as the beneficiary could be changed without your knowledge.

However, should your partner have predeceased you without providing for you, the following cases
may be of interest.

The first is a Constitutional Court case handed down in 2004, Daniels versus Campbell NO &
Others. In this case the court found it was discriminatory and unconstitutional to read the word
“spouse”, in both the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act and the Intestate Succession Act, in a
narrow context, meaning only those marriages recognised under the Marriage Act.

The case concerned Soraya Daniels, a domestic worker and the surviving spouse of a
monogamous Muslim marriage, who, after her husband died without a will, stood to lose the home to
which she had contributed financially. Daniels was married by Muslim rites, but the marriage was not
solemnised under the civil law by a marriage officer.

The Master of the Court told Daniels she could not inherit from the estate because her marriage was
not recognised and she was not a spouse in terms of the Intestate Succession Act. She was also
told she would not be able to claim maintenance from the estate because her marriage was not
recognised in South Africa and she was not regarded as a spouse.

Daniels approached the Cape High Court, which ruled in her favour, saying that it was unconstitutional
for the Intestate Succession Act and the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act to recognise only
spouses of civil marriages. It ordered that words be “read in” to both Acts to broaden the definition of a
spouse

The executor appealed the matter and the Constitutional Court finally ruled that “spouse” in these
Acts

should be understood in its ordinary broad sense and should hence include Soraya
Daniels.

Later, in 2009, another case relating to a Muslim marriage that was not solemnised in law was heard
by the Constitutional Court. In Hassam versus Jacobs, the court decided that there was no justification
for not including widows of polygamous Muslim marriages from the provisions of both the
Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act and the Intestate Succession Act.

Also in 2009, in the case of Govender versus Ragavayah, the Durban High Court established the right
of a woman married by Hindu rites to inherit intestate from her husband. Saloshinie Govender married
Balasundran Narainsamy in 2004. He died intestate on January 1 2007, and Narainsamy Ragavayah,
Narainsamy’s father, was appointed executor of the estate.

The executor said Govender had no right to inherit from her husband’s estate because the
marriage had not been solemnised in a civil court, Govender was a housewife who did not contribute
constructively to her husband’s estate, her husband had been unhappy with her because she could
not conceive, and she had broken ties with the family.

Govender cited the Daniels case and said she had assisted her husband in his business, attending to
administration and bookkeeping, and she had supported and cared for him during their marriage.

The court held that the word “spouse” in the Intestate Succession Act does include the surviving
spouse of a monogamous Hindu marriage that has not been solemnised in a civil court.

Marriages in terms of Muslim and Hindu rites are generally regarded as being out of community of
property, Margeret Meyer, a law lecturer at the Justice College, says in a document titled “Who is
a spouse for purposes of intestate succession?” on the Department of Justice and
Constitutional Development’s website. (The Justice College is a training branch within the
department that trains magistrates, prosecutors, masters of the High Court and other legal officials.)

Customary marriages

While customary marriages have been recognised since November 2000, when the Recognition of
Customary Marriages Act was promulgated, the Intestate Succession Act specifically excluded the
estates of black South Africans until 2005. Until that all-important year, the Black Administration Act
held sway, ensuring that male primogeniture prevailed, meaning that only black men could inherit from
the estates.

In 2004, however, three cases were combined into one matter that came before the Constitutional
Court. The application in the case of Bhe versus Magistrate, Khayelitsha, was made on behalf of the
two minor daughters of Nontupheko Bhe and her deceased partner. They contended that the
customary law rule of male primogeniture unfairly discriminated against them, preventing them
from inheriting the deceased estate of their late father.

In the case of Shibi versus Sithole, for similar reasons, Shibi was prevented from inheriting the estate
of her deceased brother.

The third case was a class action taken to the Constitutional Court by the South African Human Rights
Commission and the Women’s Legal Trust on behalf of all women and children prevented from
inheriting by the rule of male primogeniture.

The Constitutional Court heard the three cases as one and upheld all three challenges. The court
said that in some cases the indigenous laws of succession may be appropriate and therefore
family members needed to agree whether they want indigenous laws or the Intestate Succession Act
to prevail. If there is a dispute, the court said, such a dispute must be resolved by a magistrate’s court.

In 2005, certain provisions of the Black Administration Act were repealed, and the Intestate
Succession Act has applied to all intestate estates since then. This was confirmed in 2009, by the
passing by Parliament of the Reform of Customary Law of Succession and Regulation of Related
Matters Act, which came into operation in September 2010.

The Act makes another group of women eligible as spouses for intestate succession purposes. They
are women, other than the spouse of the deceased, with whom the deceased entered into a
union in accordance with customary law for the purpose of providing children for his spouse’s house.

Meyer says a customary marriage concluded after the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act was
promulgated in November 2000, in which a spouse is not a partner in any other existing
customary marriage, is, like a civil marriage, in community of property unless the parties entered into
an antenuptial contract.

In cases of a customary marriage entered into before the commencement of the Act, you
need to distinguish between monogamous marriages and polygamous marriages, Meyer says.

Customary law does not recognise either in or out of community of property but subscribes to a
family- orientated property system. As a result, until 2008, these marriages were regarded as out of
community of property for estate purposes.

However, in the Constitutional Court decision of Gumede versus President of the Republic of South
Africa and Others, handed down in December 2008, it was held that the provisions of the
Recognition of Customary Marriages Act relating to monogamous customary marriages were
inconsistent with the Constitution.

Meyer says this means that monogamous customary marriages entered into before the
commencement of the Act are now also deemed to be in community of property.

The Gumede decision did not, however, decide on polygamous marriages entered into before the
commencement of the Act.

In a 2007 case, Kambule versus The Master, the applicant, Lungiswa Kambule, was married
to the deceased, Burton Baduza, in terms of customary law until the latter’s death. Kambule
then claimed maintenance from the deceased’s estate in terms of the Maintenance of Surviving
Spouses Act.

However, it then came to light that the marital status of the deceased was polygamous, because he
was, until his death, also married to Norah Baduza by civil rites according to the provisions of the
Black Administration Act.

The judge held that Kambule could establish that she was validly married by customary law to
Baduza at the time of his death, and as a result she would fall within the definition of a “survivor” in
terms of the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act.

This case led to the change of the definition of a “survivor” in the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses
Act in
2009 so that it includes the spouse of a customary marriage that was dissolved by her husband
entering into a civil marriage with another woman.

Unmarried couples

When it comes to same-gender couples, the right of the survivor to inherit from a partner when the partner
dies intestate was established in the 2006 Constitutional Court case Gory versus Kolver.

Mark Gory had been in a same-gender relationship with Henry Brookes, who died intestate. Danie Kolver,
was appointed executor of Brookes’s estate by Brookes’s parents, and he sold the home Gory and Brookes
shared and distributed Brookes’s assets to his parents. Gory applied to the North Gauteng High Court,
claiming the Intestate Succession Act was unconstitutional.

He succeeded, and the case, which was taken on appeal, was upheld by the Constitutional Court, which
ordered that words be “read in” to the Intestate Succession Act so that the word “spouse” is followed by the
words “or partner in a permanent same-gender life partnership in which the partners have undertaken
reciprocal duties of support”.

Oosthuizen says the reading in applies only to this court case and similar ones and does not change the
law.

At the time that the Constitutional Court handed down the Gory versus Kolver judgment, same-gender
partners could not legally marry or enter into a civil partnership. The Civil Union Act came into operation not
long after, in December 2006, giving same-gender couples the ability to recognise their relationships in law
as civil partnerships.

Meyer says the Civil Union Act has created some doubt about the application of the decision in Gory versus
Kolver.

She says it means that if a same-gender partner died before December 1, 2006, the surviving partner may
be able to get their relationship recognised for the purposes of intestate succession, but if a same-gender
partner died on or after December 1, 2006, the surviving partner should be regarded as a “spouse” only if
the couple had entered into civil partnership in terms of the Civil Union Act.

Meyer notes that some legal experts differ from her view and believe the protection given in the Gory
decision stands, notwithstanding the enactment of the Civil Union Act.

Oosthuizen says while this may be true, it only applies to same-gender couples, and a partner would still
have to approach the court for relief.

Another Constitutional Court case, Volks versus Robinson and Others, appears to support Meyer’s view:
the court ruled that if heterosexual partners do not choose to recognise their relationship, the surviving
partner cannot claim maintenance in terms of the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act. In this case, the
Constitutional Court found the couple could have married, but chose not to, and this left the surviving
partner without a right to support.

Ethel Robinson, a freelance journalist and artist, was in a permanent relationship with Archie Shandling, an
attorney and senior partner in a law firm, from 1985 until he died in 2001

He funded their household expenses, but when he died he left her only a car, his household effects and
R100 000. He left the residue of his estate, which amounted to less than R250 000, to his adult children
who were in the United States.

Robinson claimed for maintenance from the estate, but the executor of Shandling’s estate, Richard
Gordon
Volks, denied her claim. Robinson turned to the Cape High
Court.

The court ruled that the omission from the definition of “survivor” in the Maintenance of Surviving
Spouses
Act of the words “and includes the surviving partner of a life partnership” was unconstitutional and
invalid.

It ordered that this unconstitutionality had to be remedied through a reading-in of the words “includes
the surviving partner of a life partnership”.

But Volks appealed the matter and the Constitutional Court overturned the High Court’s ruling in a
majority decision (three of the 10 judges gave dissenting judgments). The majority judges said
heterosexual couples have the freedom to marry, and their decision not to marry negates their
entitlement to the protection afforded by the Act. The majority judgment found that the purpose of Act
was to extend the consequence of marriage beyond the death of one of the spouses.

While there is a reciprocal duty of support between married persons, there is no such legal duty upon
unmarried persons, the court said. To extend the provisions of the Act to the estate of a deceased
person who was not obliged during his lifetime to maintain his partner would amount to imposing a
duty after death where none had existed during his or her lifetime.

The decision in Volks versus Robinson was very different to that in Gory versus Kolver, because at
that stage same-gender couples could not enter into any formalised union, but the application of
the Gory versus Kolver case since the promulgation of the Civil Union Act has yet to be tested.

In 2008, the Domestic Partnership Bill was put through Parliament, but it has yet to be promulgated.
The bill proposes that on the death of a partner who has concluded a domestic partnership
agreement with another, the survivor has a claim in terms of the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses
Act and, if no will was left, a claim in terms of the Intestate Succession Act.

The bill proposes that partners who do not conclude an agreement will, nevertheless, be able to
approach the courts if they wish to inherit in terms of the Intestate Succession Act or to claim
maintenance in terms of the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act.

Pension assets

The decision on whether or not a partner in any relationship will receive what you have saved in your
pension fund if you die before retirement, rests with the trustees of your fund.

The distribution of assets in a retirement fund after the death of a member is governed by the
Pension Funds Act. In terms of section 37C of this Act, the trustees must identify the
deceased member’s dependants and distribute the assets equitably.

This means that regardless of who you, as a member, nominate as a beneficiary of your retirement
fund, the trustees are obliged to determine who was legally and factually dependent on you and to
distribute the assets to them equitably.But when a defined benefit fund provides a pension for a
surviving spouse on the death of a member, the rules of the fund are supreme.

In the case of FJ van der Sande versus AECI Pension Fund, which came before the Pension Funds
Adjudicator, Muvhango Lukhaimane, earlier this year, the same-gender partner of a deceased
member of the AECI Pension Fund lost out on receiving a spouse’s pension because conditions laid
down in the fund’s rules had not been met.

The rules of the AECI Pension Fund specifically allow for a spouse’s pension to be paid to a same-
gender partner, but stipulate that the non-member partner must be “nominated in writing and
accepted by the trustees during the member, deferred pensioner or pensioner’s lifetime as being
entitled to receive the pension”. The fund said the member had listed himself as single.

The fund said it had therefore not made any allowance in its actuarial calculations for a spouse’s
pension to be paid to the member’s partner. The adjudicator upheld the fund’s decision.

WHEN ASSETS ARE FROZEN

Couples married in community of property are often concerned about bank accounts being frozen
when one spouse dies.

However, Laurianne Hollings, an associate at law firm Eisenberg de Saude who specialises in
estates, says accounts are not, as many people think, frozen automatically on the death of a spouse.
A bank must be presented with a death certificate before it freezes accounts in the name of the
deceased. When this happens, funds may be paid into the account but cannot be withdrawn, and debit
orders will no longer be paid.

When people are married in community of property and a spouse dies, banks do not freeze the
account of the surviving spouse, Hollings says.

The bank is, however, required to provide the administrator of the estate with a certificate
giving the balance in the surviving spouse’s account at the date of the deceased’s death for
the purposes of administering the estate, she says.

However, Hollings says some couples operate only a single bank account in the name of one spouse,
with the other spouse being a signatory and having a secondary card. If the spouse in whose name
the account is held dies, the surviving spouse would then have to open a new account in his or her
own name.

Hollings says it takes a month to a month-and-a-half to obtain letters of executorship from the Master
of the High Court. During this time, if the bank has frozen the account of the deceased, it is not
possible for the surviving spouse to access the funds in that account. The surviving spouse can be left
with no funds on which to live if he or she doesn’t have an independent source of income or a separate
account.

It very often happens that debit orders for necessities such as insurance, cellphones and medical
scheme contributions are not paid because the bank has frozen the account.

Hollings says to avoid these problems, the bank should be notified only once the letters of
executorship are received, which puts the executor in a position to open an estate bank account and
make the arrangements to ensure that insurance and other cover is in place.Once appointed, the
executor can apply to the Master to release funds to the surviving spouse for his or her
maintenance.

The Role of the Executor

Estate administration is both complicated and potentially confusing. The executor
plays an integral role in ensuring that the process is handled professionally and
efficiently. The
executor’s functions may be summarised as:-
❑ Taking control of the assets which form part of the estate
❑ Protecting and preserving the assets in the estate
❑ Properly identifying the beneficiaries in the estate
❑ Carrying out the legislative requirements regarding the administration of an estate
❑ Paying the debts and the administration expenses
❑ Attending to the final income tax return
❑ Distributing the balance of the estate to the beneficiaries
A fear many people have is that the executor may sell all the assets in the
estate. In reality, the executor will only sell assets when:-
❑ The Will directs him to sell assets
❑ There is a cash shortfall in the estate
❑ The heirs to the estate request him to do so
The entire estate administration process is supervised and validated by the Master of the
High Court, who also performs a judicial function, for example, regarding objections to the
Liquidation and Distribution Account.
Should you have any fears or concerns, please let us know about the issue that is
worrying you. This allows us to dispel rumours/myths and the uncertainty in your
mind and focuses our attention on your needs.

2

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

When will cash be available for living expenses?
If you were married in community of property to the deceased person, access to
cash can take some time. Your account will have to be frozen by the executor until
he is sure that the estate is solvent. Cash from the estate itself may be advanced to
you once the executor is confident that he can do so. Access to the funds can be
arranged in the meanwhile.
Will the executor sell everything?
The executor will only sell assets if the Will directs this, or if the beneficiaries agree
to sell assets. In some cases, the executor may have to sell an asset in order to
generate sufficient cash to meet debts but this can be avoided if the beneficiaries
pay cash into the estate.
Will the State get any assets?
The State seldom receives assets from deceased estates. If there is a Will, the
beneficiaries named in it will receive the assets. If there is no Will, the law determines
who the closest relatives are and they will inherit.
How does the Guardian’s Fund work?
An inheritance sometimes has to be paid into the Guardian's Fund (such as when a
minor child inherits and there is no provision for a trust to be set up). Money is
placed with the High Court and the minor is entitled to claim the capital amount only
when he attains the age of majority.
What taxes will be payable?
Outstanding income tax and occasionally VAT will have to be paid by the estate in
addition to income tax on anything earned since the last assessment was made.
Estate Duty is a tax payable on estates with a net value of over R3,5 million. If a
spouse inherits the
estate, no Estate Duty will be payable. Some estates will also have to pay capital gains
tax - this liability depends on the growth in the value of the assets and on the nature
of the assets.When do I receive my inheritance?
After the Liquidation and Distribution Account has been sent to the Master of the
High Court for approval and once it has been available for inspection by any
interested party, the Master may advise the executor to distribute the assets to the
beneficiaries. This is unlikely to occur before about eight months after the estate
was reported.

What happens if the house is broken into and assets stolen, or I have an
accident in the car?
It is crucial that you authorise the executor to insure property in the estate. In the
event of theft, the monetary value of the stolen items can be recovered under the
insurance policy.
What about firearms in the estate?
Firearms must be securely stored in terms of police regulations. If the police
consider you to be a suitable person to own a firearm, the firearms can be
transferred into your name. Otherwise, you should authorise the executor to sell
them.
Who will run the business until it’s sold or transferred?

A family member or someone with knowledge of the business will have to continue
running the business. This person should liaise with the executor as regards the
running of the business.
How can I be sure that the assets I should receive won't disappear?
The Master of the High Court oversees the executor's work. The Master's function
is to protect the rights of beneficiaries, and he will thus ensure that all assets are
secured for the correct beneficiaries.



LAW ON ESTATES



Basic administration process and time-frame explained:

Contact Details Lulu Kritzinger

ElectusTrust
POBox 12541
Hatfield 0028
Cell 076 338 9560
Fax to mail 086 275 3772 [email protected] “Uitgekies, uitgesoek,
chosen”
Also: PO Box 7584, Krugersdorp North, 1741