A generation ago, sorting out someone's affairs after they died meant going through paperwork, bank statements and a filing cabinet. Today, a huge part of your financial and personal life sits behind passwords - online banking, investments, cryptocurrency, email, years of photos, social media, maybe
The phrase "living will" confuses a lot of people, because it sounds like an ordinary will - the document about who gets your money when you die. It's something quite different. A living will has nothing to do with your assets. It's about your medical care while you're still alive
People often worry that when they die, the taxman will take a big slice of everything they leave behind. For most South Africans, that fear is overblown - the majority of estates pay no estate duty at all, thanks to a generous exemption. But for those with more substantial assets, estate duty is rea
When someone dies, their money, property and debts don't just transfer themselves to the family. Someone has to step in, take control of everything the person owned, settle what they owed, and hand the rest to the right people - all under the supervision of the State. That someone is the executor, a
Plenty of people assume that if they die without a will, their estate simply "goes to the family" and sorts itself out. It doesn't work like that. When there's no valid will, the law steps in with a rigid formula that decides who inherits and how much - and that formula often produces results the de
Almost no one enjoys thinking about their own death, which is exactly why so many South Africans put off writing a will - or never get round to it at all. But a will isn't really about you. It's about the people you leave behind, and whether they inherit a clear plan or a slow, stressful, expensive
