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Government Investigations in Singapore 2025
We have contributed the Singapore chapter of Getting the Deal Through, Government Investigations 2025.
South Africa | Publication | September 2019
In South Africa, you don’t die without a will. You either die with one you signed or one the State wrote for you – the Intestate Succession Act. It’s preferable that you write your own will. You’ve spent your life accumulating your assets and building up your estate, so you should be the one to decide what happens to them once you’re gone, not the State. In your will you decide who gets what (your beneficiaries) and who will carry out your wishes (your executor), besides other details.
A will is one of the few agreements that must be in writing for it to be valid. It can be handwritten, typed or be a combination of both. Avoid handwriting a will where you can – not everyone has consistent handwriting and you leave the door open for the will to be challenged if the handwriting doesn’t look the same throughout the document.
You need to be 16 years or older and mentally able to appreciate what you are doing when you draw up your will and when you sign it. If there might be questions about your competence to draw up and sign a will, it’s a good idea to have an appropriate medical professional present to confirm that in giving of instructions and in signing the will, you are of sound mind. Have them produce an affidavit to this effect and attach it to your will. It will help prevent disputes at a later stage.
A will must be signed in the presence of two witnesses. Important points to note about signing a will:
Do not hide your will or keep it a secret the fact that you have a will. Your will is needed immediately on your passing. If no one knows you have a will, no one will look for it and your estate will, at least initially until the will is found, be dealt with in terms of the Intestate Succession Act. If the will is found at a later stage, there will be an egg to unscramble to try honour your wishes as expressed in your will rather than follow the laws of intestate inheritance. So, keep your will safe and let at least one trusted someone know where to find it.
A will is a dynamic document. As your life circumstances change, review your will to see if it still meets your needs. Minor children need guardians. And their inheritance should be paid into a trust (which you can create in your will) otherwise it will be paid into the Guardian’s Fund (a fund administered by the Master of the High Court). If you get divorced, make any changes required to your will as soon as possible. If you die within three months of the divorce and your ex-spouse is listed as a beneficiary, your ex-spouse will be treated as if they had died before you and will be excluded from your will. Decide immediately who you want to inherit from you.
For more information, visit the Law Society of South Africa.
Publication
We have contributed the Singapore chapter of Getting the Deal Through, Government Investigations 2025.
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The private credit market and direct lending have grown and diversified immensely in the past decade, offering alternative sources and terms of debt compared to those historically provided by the syndicated leveraged loan and public issuance markets. Consequently, they are fast becoming pivotal components in the capital ecosystem, so much so that the Bank of England consider that the private credit market is currently responsible for approximately $1.8 trillion of debt issuance, which is four times its size in 2015. This growth has been particularly pronounced in Europe and the US but there has also been significant activity in Asia.
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The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Regulation, commonly referred to as the AI Act, is expected to come into force during the summer of 2024 (the AI Act). The AI Act will be the first comprehensive legal framework for the use and development of artificial intelligence (AI), and is intended to ensure that AI systems developed and used in the EU are safe, transparent, traceable, non-discriminatory and environmentally friendly.
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