{"id":781,"date":"2021-10-10T06:56:10","date_gmt":"2021-10-10T06:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weslawafrica937512598.wordpress.com\/?p=5"},"modified":"2025-08-19T09:37:53","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T09:37:53","slug":"antinuptial-agreements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weslawafrica.co.za\/?p=781","title":{"rendered":"Why an antenuptial agreement may be important when getting married."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cI am getting married this year in terms of customary law. My fianc\u00e9 and I<\/em> are both professional persons and want to be married out of community of property so that we can each manage our own estates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How can we go about this?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/weslawafrica937512598.wordpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/kelly-sikkema-4le7k9xvyje-unsplash.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-228\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In South Africa, <strong>a customary marriage is automatically recognised as a marriage in community of property<\/strong>, unless the couple specifically enters into an <strong>antenuptial contract (ANC)<\/strong> <em>before<\/em> the marriage is concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you and your fianc\u00e9 want to be married <strong>out of community of property<\/strong>, you must:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Consult an attorney\/notary before the marriage<\/strong> \u2013 An antenuptial contract (ANC) must be drafted and signed in the presence of a notary.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sign the ANC before the customary wedding ceremony<\/strong> \u2013 This ensures that your marriage will be legally recorded as \u201cout of community of property.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Register the ANC<\/strong> \u2013 The notary will lodge it with the <strong>Deeds Office within 3 months<\/strong> of signing. This registration is what gives the ANC legal effect.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Proceed with your customary marriage<\/strong> \u2013 Once the ANC is in place, your marriage will be recognised as <strong>valid, out of community of property<\/strong>, and your estates will remain separate.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#x26a0;&#xfe0f; <strong>Important:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>If you do <em>not<\/em> sign an antenuptial contract before the ceremony, your marriage will by default be <strong>in community of property<\/strong>, meaning all assets and debts will be shared.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If the marriage has already taken place, you can still apply to court jointly to change your marital property regime under <strong>section 21 of the Matrimonial Property Act<\/strong>, but this process is more costly and time-consuming.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI am getting married this year in terms of customary law. My fianc\u00e9 and I are both professional persons and want to be married out of community of property so that we can each manage our own estates. How can we go about this?&#8221; . In South Africa, a customary marriage is automatically recognised as &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/weslawafrica.co.za\/?p=781\" class=\"more-link\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Why an antenuptial agreement may be important when getting married.&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":228,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-law"],"featured_media_urls":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weslawafrica.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weslawafrica.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weslawafrica.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weslawafrica.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weslawafrica.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=781"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/weslawafrica.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6890,"href":"https:\/\/weslawafrica.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781\/revisions\/6890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weslawafrica.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weslawafrica.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weslawafrica.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}