By: Natasha Archary
Gavin Mkhabela, a Property Investment Strategist joins Gugulethu Mfuphi on Kaya Biz to talk through the steps one has to take to wind up the deceased estate of a spouse.
The process can be complicated and may take time depending on a number of factors including, whether your spouse had a will or not, if you were married in community of property or had an antenuptial contract, amongst others.
“The first thing, and this is a common one that we see on social media is whether the marriage is in community of property (COP), because the number one question is what happens if a spouse passes and there’s assets or debt.
The implications if you’re married in COP in particular is that you guys become one. Meaning that if one passes away, technically it means that both of you have passed away which means the estate needs to be wound up, debt needs to settled and assets need to be transferred.
I also need to bring in life cover and other policies that may come into play as well, and you need to determine if the estate is liquid, meaning is there money and what will happen after that?”
Gavin says in most cases, the surviving spouse has no idea what to do regarding the deceased estate of their husband or wife, and most don’t know where to start.
Before considering a marriage in COP, Gavin reminds listeners that if your spouse fell into debt before passing away, you will be liable to settle this debt because whatever was his/hers, whether it was assets, businesses, wealth or debt, is shared between you 50/50.
Therefore to get married in community of property is one of the biggest financial mistakes one can make.
Listen to the conversation on Kaya Biz:
Also read: How to financially prepare for retrenchments
