The law is clear on how a will must be signed and witnessed. One of the requirements for a valid will is that the testator must sign each page of the will with what is commonly known as a “wet ink” signature. Ignoring this guideline may lead to a day in court.  
Electronic signature 
In Mmelesi v Mokgoro the high court heard an application for leave to appeal in respect of an earlier judgment handed down…

Contracts lie at the heart of everyday business dealings. They create expectations, define responsibilities, and set the tone for the business relationship. But what happens when one party claims that they don’t have to perform because you didn’t perform first? In South African law, this defence is referred to as the exceptio non adimpleti contractus.…

In the recent case of Lenette Janse De Wit & 2 Others v Toerien De Wit NO & 6 Others 2026 ZASCA 23, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) provided important guidance on the interpretation of section 13 of the Trust Property Control Act 57 of 1988 (TPCA), which deals with, inter alia, the termination…

An important new judgment will bring relief to many after great uncertainty about what South Africa’s updated divorce laws mean in practice for wives in Muslim marriages. Clarifying the role that talaq (divorce under Muslim marriage laws) plays in the South African legal divorce system, three judges of the high court were unanimous: talaq did…

A new Constitutional Court judgment about the validity of customary and civil marriages has huge implications. An untold number of Black couples, married under customary law and later under civil law, are suddenly finding that, in the wake of this judgment, their rights are not protected in the way they had assumed. Now they must…

The Gauteng Division of the High Court has introduced mandatory court-annexed mediation and the mediation protocol. But what happens when a party simply refuses to cooperate? Can a litigant’s belief that mediation would be pointless excuse them from participating?
This article unpacks the scope of the courts’ power to compel reluctant parties to participate in…

Each time we get behind the wheel, we assume that traffic shall flow, everything shall go as it should, and we will all get home safely at the end of the day. However, one split second is all it takes for everything to change. When the unexpected happens in your life due to a motor…