Gavin Bramley

This is a brief description of the service ...

Key Benefits

Bequests to surviving spouses

In most wills spouses have decided to leave their assets to each other. Whilst this is common practise it does not mean that it is the most financially prudent especially in an estate where their is likely to be an estate duty liability. Estate Duty becomes an obligation if your and your spouses assets together with the life policies you have exceed R2.500.000. Should you predecease your spouse, then anything left to the survivor will be exempt from estate duty. However, this merely defers the tax liability to when that spouse dies. Often due to incorrect estate planning the combined estate will then be taxed with only one R2.500.000 rebate applying. The astute way of setting up the will from an estate duty perspective is that both spouses should bequeath “…the current rebate amount to my trust….”, certainly, the residue can go to the surviving spouse. This very simple action, if taken by both spouses has the effect of a potential savings of R500.000 in estate duty that would be lost if no action was taken.

Liquidity of your estate

You may have an asset that comprises assets that are not easily converted into cash or on which various amounts of money may be due via bonds or HP agreements. These assets are usually deemed to be bequeathed debt free. So should you wish for the beneficiaries of your estate to actually take ownership of these assets it is important that your estate is liquid. Should this not be the case the liquidator may be forced to sell  your assets to the highest bidder in order to give effect to some of the provisions of your will. Depending on what price is obtained for these assets this could mean a significantly diminished inheritance for your beneficiaries.