Would You Build a House Without a Plan?

Along this coastline, the finest homes are not built by accident. They are surveyed, engineered and intentionally designed to outlast the people who first envisioned them for generations to come. Yet many affluent South Africans do exactly the opposite with their wealth. They leave their Estate Plan to chance – trusting a formula designed by people who have never met their family, understood their relationships, or considered what matters most to them.

What most people don’t know
Winding up an estate triggers not ONE tax, but FOUR. Estate Duty Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Donations Tax, Income Tax – before and after death – Executor’s fees (plus VAT). Layer them onto an Estate with growth assets, and the erosion is quietly brutal, often the difference between a legacy and a forced sale.

Your offshore investment may not be as “offshore” as you think. Depending on the structure of the investment, the day you die, SARS can “bring it all home” – liquidated, repatriated, and swept into your South African estate for Estate Duty, Capital Gains Tax and Executor’s Fees. The jurisdiction on the statement does not protect the asset. The structure does.

 
And there is the ONE illegitimate heir who is first in line for payment from your Estate. Not your spouse. Not your children. Not your beloved dog. Our beloved SARS. Every rand of tax must be settled before a single cent reaches the people you love. No cash in the Estate? Assets are sold – often the wrong ones, at the wrong time, to the wrong buyer.

A well-built home has a foundation you never see. A well-built Estate is the same. One conversation, years before it is needed, can change the trajectory of your legacy for generations.

Six Questions to Answer
- If you die tomorrow, will your Executors be forced to sell assets to pay for the taxes and costs in your Estate?
- Is your offshore wealth structured to stay offshore, or to be returned home in a coffin?
- Have you and your spouse used the combined R7 million abatement?
- Are your beneficiaries’ inheritance protected in the event of their insolvency?
- Do you own shares in a business or own a share portfolio? Do you have the appropriate structures in place to ensure that the shares can be transferred smoothly and unencumbered?
- Do you have Legal Agreements (Shareholders, Contingent, Sureties) that are binding on your Estate – are they accounted for in the impact on your Estate?

If you paused on any of these, we should talk … Before the builders arrive.

Email: melonyj@mvestfin.co.za   

Website: www.mvestfinance.co