What Is An ANC?
An ANC is an agreement entered into by two people who are get married and want to use this contract to regulate their financial arrangements to protect each other and their individual assets during the marriage from outside threats and to regulate the division of assets at the end of the marriage. This is most important when one of the spouses passes away.

What Happens If We Do Not Sign An ANC
In South African law, you are married in community of property unless there is an ANC stating otherwise.

What Are The Drawbacks To Not Being Married With An ANC In Place
• You are jointly liable for each other’s debt’s which can become quite difficult in cases of insolvency and includes any debt left behind by your spouse after their passing.
• You require your partner to co-sign most legal contracts and in the event of friction in the marriage, this can prove a major source of contention.
• If you are financially stronger than your spouse, you essentially gift them half of everything you own.
• The reality is that not everyone is good with money and the mistakes of one’s spouse can ruin you both financially leaving you with no safety net.

What Are The Benefits Of Having An ANC
• In the event of your spouse becoming insolvent, your assets and income are not affected. This may cushion the blow of the situation and helping your spouse to get back on their feet.
• If your spouse passes and there are debts remaining, the burden is not transferred over to you.
• You are free to enter into any legal agreement without putting your spouse at risk.
• As debts are not shared, it makes the ups and downs of life as a marriage couple significantly less financially risky.

The downside of this type of marriage regime is that the assets are completely separate and should one spouse be a stay at home mom/dad and in so doing, sacrifice their own career for the benefit of the family, they will not have a claim against the other spouse’s assets at the end of the marriage. The only way to lay a claim against your partner’s assets at the end of a marriage out of community of property, is to include an accrual system in the ANC.

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There are many people who believe that in South Africa we have a legal concept of a common law husband/wife, where after a certain period of time, 2 people that are living together get the rights of a husband or a wife with regard to their partner. This is not actually the case. The closest we get to that is a universal partnership and this has its own requirements before it is considered to be one.

The challenger is that the person who wants to show that there is a legal partnership has to prove the elements of a partnership for it to be valid and well, that usually happens after the relationship has ended, costs money and in all likelihood, their former partner is not likely to agree. It then becomes a messy drawn-out court case. This is more problematic if a partner dies. There is no right to inherit unless it is covered in a will. There is a way to avoid these risks and that is to have a co-habitation agreement. The rights and duties of each party are set out during the relationship so that both parties know where they stand. Duties of support can be included, along with most importantly, what happens with the assets if the relationship comes to an end, will they be split equally and what will happen with those things that were bought jointly. Who will get what? If you are planning to have children, what are the arrangements for care and contact if the relationship splits, whose name will they take and so on. The best time to draw up a co-habitation agreement is when you first move in together, that is after all the beginning of your co-habitation or if that is not workable, then as soon as possible after that or when there is a big change in your relationship, like moving to a new home, buying a home together, having a child. The agreement won’t replace a will and we recommend drawing up wills in addition to having a co-habitation agreement. We can help, we can draw up a cohabitation agreement, tailored to meet your needs. Contact us for further information through this website.