It’s Wedding Season again, so here’s a timely reminder to all you happy couples working on your “To Do” lists - put the “boring legal bits” high up in the priority section and not squashed down at the bottom in between “Book Airbnb for Auntie Jo” and “Bath dog”.

We’ll discuss what exactly an antenuptial contract (ANC) is, what it does for both of you, and why it is an essential planning tool for your future life together. Then we’ll analyse your 3 choices when it comes to which “marital regime” will apply to you (with a useful practical example of the “accrual system” in action).

We’ll end off with some thoughts for those already married…

You decide to hire a new employee, but neither of you is entirely sure that the “fit” will be right. Will the job suit the new hire and vice versa?

The good news is that our law allows you to employ someone new on a probationary basis precisely so that you can determine suitability, but beware – that does not mean that you have carte blanche to dismiss him/her at will during the period of probation. In fact if any form of corrective action should become necessary you have to ensure that it is “fair” in every respect. 

Let’s have a look at how you should go about doing that, at the applicable Code of Good Practice, and at a practical example recently decided in the Labour Appeal Court.

Given half a chance, our courts take firm action against crime, and a recent Supreme Court of Appeal judgment is only one of many recent instances of victims seeing justice delivered in full force to the criminals who preyed on them.

A SETA employee who defrauded grant beneficiaries of R4.9m was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The fact that he was a first offender, his expressions of remorse and his plan to repay his victims cut no ice with the Court, which described white collar crime, particularly fraud, as “a cancer that is crippling our country from the core”.

Our law’s minimum sentencing provisions played a part in this outcome, and we examine how minimum sentences work, the wide range of serious offences they apply to, and how they are there to give heart to victims that justice will be served. 

By all accounts Facebook Marketplace is giving Gumtree, OLX and other online classifieds a real run for their money in both the personal and business markets. It is now used every month by 800 million people in 70 different countries.

Have a look at Facebook’s “How Marketplace Works” guide here for a step-by-step guide on buying and selling anything, sorting by distance or new listings, notifications, following, safety and trust issues and so on. 

For more ideas, and for 5 ways to use Facebook Marketplace for your business, read “Facebook Marketplace: The Marketer’s Guide” here.