Asked by andre van vuuren on 05-09-2019 15:43:33
Question posted in the Family Law category relating to Gauteng

hi my son in law dad past away last week ,my son was born out of his dads firts marrage ,then his dad got married again with his second wife and had two children with her ,so thats my son in laws two steph brothers ,his dad devorsed her beginning of i think january 2018, now that he past awy he second wife wants to claim every thing that he owed ,after he devorsed her in January 2018 he baugt a second hand bakkie in October 2019 ,he actuly said to my son in law just before he past away that he wants to put the bakkie on his name he signed the papers to do it ,but past away before he could do it ,my son in law has a whats app message where his dad said he wants to put the bakkie on his name as well ,can his second ex wife claim the bakkie 

sorry for my spelling but i am afrikaans 

thanks 

Andre van Vuuren

Posted by Att. Patrick on 05-09-2019 16:12:38

Hi there and thank you for your question,

I am a practicing attorney based in South Africa and I will assist you with your question. Please feel free to ask as many follow up questions in order to clarify your question. If you have a new question, you must please open a new thread.

No, the second ex-wife is not entitled to simply claim the bakkie, and unfortunately the WhatsApp message is not good enough for your son-in-law to claim the bakkie either. 

His dad's estate will need to be distributed in accordance with the Will. If there is no Will, then the estate will need to be distributed in accordance with the laws of intestate succession.

Your son-in-law needs to contact the Master's Office to find out if the estate has been reported yet, and if so, if an executor has been appointed to deal with the estate. 

The executor's job is to administer the estate and dispose of the assets in accordance with the terms of the Will / intestate succession.

If the second ex-wife is the heir in terms of the Will, then she will receive the bakkie.

Again, unless your son-in-law has been left the bakkie in terms of a Will, properly signed, he can't simply claim the bakkie from the estate. 

If there is a part of the answer which you need more advice on, or clarity please continue in this same thread instead of opening a new question.

Att. Patrick

Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow up questions please use the REPLY button and ask. If I did not answer the question you thought you were asking, please respond with the specific question you wanted answered. I hope you found my answer helpful, and you have finished asking your questions, please click on the GREEN ACCEPT button in order to mark the question as closed.

so even if the bakkie was bought long after the divorce and the will that his ex wife has was done before the bakkie was bought she can most probably have a say over it

thanks

Posted by Att. Patrick on 05-09-2019 17:07:45

Unfortunately yes.

This is why we always tell people to draft a new Will if they get married, or divorced, or have children.

Imagine you get re-married and then die 5 years later, and your new wife finds out that you never drafted a new Will and now your ex-wife is going to inherit everything!?

So, even if he got divorced, and then bought the bakkie later, you would still apply the terms of the Will.

The big question is - is that the last Will, or was there another Will?

we know he mad another will its just to try and find it

thank you for all the help

Posted by Att. Patrick on 06-09-2019 10:48:51

You need to find the new Will and ensure that you give the original copy to the Master's office so that the Master can start the administration process! Good luck!