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When one finds employment excitements tends to dominate the pertinent matters of the employment contract, as such in most cases one does not even negotiate in fear of losing the opportunity. It is important that after signing the contract, you keep a copy for your records and ensure that you also get copies of the company policies.

While one should read and understand the whole employment contract, the main clauses that one should pay particular attention to and negotiate if need be before signing include, inter alia, the following:

• Job description;
• Performance evaluation, termination & resignation notice;
• Remuneration & Benefits; and
• Restraint of Trade

Collaborating two legal beings goes beyond the wedding day and rests heavily on the need to planning the regulation of assets. This aspect has nothing to do with how much one loves their spouse to be and is strictly about securing the future of the family.

It is advisable that before getting married, the parties hold a discussion to decide on what would be the best property marital regime for their marriage. These discussions should take into cognizance various factors such as; sequestration and financial reliance and interests of children from prior marriages where applicable.

Both parties must understand the implications of each Matrimonial Property Regime prior to getting married. The three (3) Matrimonial Property Regime are governed by the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984 and they are as follows: –

• Marriage In community of Property- is a default regime and prevalent because it does not require an Anteneupual Contract (“ANC”). Parties share equally on the joint estate.
• Marriage Out of community of Property with the Accrual – requires ANC. Parties share only the joint estate accrued during the marriage.
• Marriage Out of community of Property without the Accrual – requires an Anteneupual Contract. Parties retain their absolute financial control; they acquire assets separately while married.

We often hear people saying they bought a property through a written or verbal contract. The unfortunate thing is that all those “sales’ are invalid because in South Africa immovable property can only be transferred in terms of the Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937. Things that one should know when buying a property are, inter alia, the following:

• Transfer of property can only be through the Deeds office, a Title Deed is registered and issued with the name of the new owner as proof of ownership.
• Agreement of Sale- is a contract entered into by the seller and the purchaser containing the terms and conditions of the sale. The contract must be in writing because oral agreements are not binding.
• Payment of the Purchase price so that you can approach the         appropriate financial institutions for a Bond application if needs be.

• Generally, when a person who is a foreign national resides in the Republic of South Africa (“SA”) based on being married to a South African citizen when the marriage ends, that can have adversarial penalties if the foreign national wishes to remain a SA citizen.
• When the divorced is finalized, the Department of Home Affairs immediately invokes the provisions of section 43(a) of the Immigration Act 13 of 2011 (“the Act”), and the foreign national immediately becomes an illegal foreigner.
• One of the plausible options is to convert the permanent residency permit before you file for divorce into one of the grounds listed in section 27 of the Act so that by the time you divorce, your permanent residency is not conditional to your marriage.

Section 21 of the Children’s Act No 38 of 2005 (“the Act”) automatically bestows parental responsibilities and rights on unmarried biological fathers of children;

                   (a) if at the time of the child’s birth he is living with the mother in a  permanent life-partnership; or

                   (b) if he, regardless of whether he has lived or is living with the mother –

                   (i) consents to be identified or successfully applies in terms of section 26  to be identified as the child’s father or pays damages in terms of                          customary law;

                   (ii) contributes or has attempted in good faith to contribute to the child’s upbringing for a reasonable period.

The Act, therefore, grants and protects the rights of unmarried fathers more adequately than previous legislation. This protection, however, does not detract or alter the duty a father to pay maintenance for his children.