In the course of practice there are some questions that are frequently asked which, we believe, will be of general interest to people who visit our site.
1. Why does it take so long to register my new property?
At any one time there are upwards of ten people who are involved in transferring property between parties - the transferring attorney, the bond cancellation attorney, the bond registering attorney, the bank officials, secretaries, courier company employees and - lately - specialised legal ISPs to name but a few. In addition, the law requires that every single document relating to your transfer must be lodged with the Deeds Registry at exactly the same time. This means that, like the conductor of an orchestra, the transferring attorney must make sure that everyone comes together at the same time to ensure that the symphony (your transfer) can take place. Finally, the Deeds Registry takes about two weeks to register the property. Caution is the key word in property transactions - one can never be too careful when dealing with a person's most important asset: their home!
2. What do I need to do in order to invest my money offshore?
The simple answer is: create a trust. There are a number of countries who market themselves as tax havens and allow you, through your trust, to move your money across to bank accounts held there where, invested wisely, your retirement money and other investments can grow and grow and grow. Remember, though, that it is vital that you're given a clean bill of health by the South African tax man otherwise it will be virtually impossible to move money legally out of the country.
3. Do attorneys wear gowns at work?
Only if we're working late or have forgotten to change before coming to the office. Seriously, though, in South Africa we wear black "batman" gowns but only when we appear at court. We follow the English tradition in that regard but, thankfully, this doesn't extend to the wearing of scratchy horse-hair wigs.
4. How can attorneys live with themselves when they represent criminals?
South African law is premised on the maxim "innocent until proven guilty". It is not our place to judge a person's innocence or guilt and, quite often, there are extenuating circumstances that might mitigate a person's guilt. It is important that the legal system works for everyone: rich and poor, black and white, sophisticated and unsophisticated. For this reason the Public Prosecutors must work hard to put people in prison while defence attorneys must work hard to keep those same people out of prison.
