"An Attorney near me" - Cape Town legal concierge
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Latest Legal News & Updates

• 20 Apr 2026. Check out this tool which drafts a will for you for free.
• 1 Apr 2026. Lawyer concierge facility implemented.
• 20 Mar 2026. The property transfer costs calculator now has a dedicated website.
• 19 Mar 2026. Estate duty calculator has been moved to its own website.
• We are waiting for the 2026 conveyancing fee increase to be announced (usually in April); but will likely be roughly equal to the inflation rate (3.5% for the year to January 2026). The last increase 3.2% higher conveyancing fees applicable since 1 Aug 2025. Note that these are published guidelines, if you are buying/selling a property, you can and should try negotiate lower fees with your conveyancing attorney. View total transfer costs to see what they look like once adjusted for the new conveyancing fees. We have also updated our bond attorney fees calculator to factor in the latest rates.

• Here is the fully updated Property CGT Calculator reflecting the 2026/2027 tax rules. In the Budget 2026 Tax Guide there are several crucial updates that affect the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) calculation for individuals in the 2026/2027 tax year:
  • Primary Residence Exclusion has increased from R3,000,000 to R3,000,000.
  • Annual Exclusion has increased from R40,000 to R50,000
  • Marginal Tax Rates have shifted. The maximum marginal rate remains 45%, and the maximum effective CGT rate remains 18% (which means the inclusion rate stays at 40%). The brackets are now 18%, 26%, 31%, 36%, 39%, 41%, and 45%.
• 27 Feb 2025. Deeds Office fees from 1 Apr 2026 to 28 Feb 2027 have been published; no dramatic changes, mostly just inflationary increases. Our property transfer costs calculator has been updated to allow for the increased Deeds Office fees.
• 25 Feb 2026. National Treasury confirms that transfer duty rates will not change in 2026 from rates applicable in 2025.
• 28 Nov 2025. Effective date of change to South African Court Tariffs in accordance with Government Gazette Publication No 53572, published on 24 October 2025.

If you cannot afford a lawyer, do not despair, we have set up a page on free legal services for those in need.

• Our home loan repayments calculator is the only one in South Africa which estimates the margin relative to prime that banks will charge you, based on your personal credit risk profile. It has been updated to take into account the new conveyancing fees applicable since 1 August 2025; as well the reduction in the repo rate to 7%.
• List of Absa panel conveyancers in Cape Town and the rest of South Africa.
• 4 July 2025. List of companies offering legal insurance cover in South Africa.
• 1 Apr 2025. Are you about to start the process of buying or selling a property? Here's how to check the credentials of a real estate agent or agency in South Africa, to make sure that they are licensed and legitimate.
• 31 Mar 2025. What's a good home loan interest rate in South Africa?
• 12 March 2025. National Treasury have confirmed the transfer duty rates for South Africa to Feb 2026.

• 23 Feb 2025. Circular 6 of 2025 has confirmed that adverts for deceased estates may be solely online, but must be viewable for free, circulate in the area the deceased resided and in some circumstances be in both English and Afrikaans.

  

  • 23 Feb 2025. Bond attorney fees in South Africa for the registration of mortgage bonds over immovable property.
  • 10 Feb 2025. There are 490 advocates who are members of the Cape Bar; but how do you know which of them are skilled at the expertise you are looking for? Introducing our new tool to find an advocate; you can specify what expertise you are looking for (e.g. property) and then it'll show you all advocates in Cape Town with that skillset. This is a prototype; please contact us if you can improve on the information.

  

  • 23 Jan 2025. Do you need a document legally authenticated for use abroad; if the country is part of the Hague Apostille Convention then you can benefit from a simplified authentication process: get a notary to help you get an apostille, after having the document notarised. The apostille is the key to international recognition within Convention countries, and it's issued in South Africa by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO).
  • 20 Jan 2025. Attention those requiring legal assistance in Bellville! View our list of Bellville attorneys by expertise. Simultaneously to this, we have set up a page focusing on finding a notary public in Bellville; so that you don't have to travel too far to get documents authenticated.
  • 6 Jan 2025. Discover notary publics who authenticate powers of attorney in each suburb of Cape Town.

  

  • 3 Jan 2025. Explore family lawyers in Cape Town.

  • 3 Jan 2025. Explore this list of list of female attorneys in Cape Town.

  • 1 Jan 2025. How to transfer property from husband to wife. Remember to think about tax - transfer duty, donations tax and capital gains tax - all may come into play; and you may want to also think about the alternative of leaving the property to your wife in your will and its tax impact (e.g. no transfer duty but estate duty may come into play).

  

• 29 Dec 2024. What a servitude on property is, and why it's important to be aware of servitudes if you are buying or selling.

• 24 Dec 2024. We have started a list of labour lawyers in Cape Town, as well as eviction attorneys.

• 22 Dec 2024. How to report a deceased estate online. First register as a user and then register a new death notice.

• 20 Dec 2024. Explore maintenance lawyers in Cape Town.

• 20 Dec 2024. Learn what a conveyancer's certificate is and how to get one.

• 17 Dec 2024. Estate planning attorneys in Cape Town
  

• 15 Dec 2024. Attorneys who offers online consultations or other online services.

• 4 Dec 2024. Regulation 910 of the Attorneys Act sets out who may serve as an executor of a deceased estate.

• 4 Dec 2024. List of attorneys in Cape Town; with their Legal Practice Council numbers.

• 30 Nov 2024. List of law firms in Cape Town.

• 29 Nov 2024. Want to register a trust? Here's a list of trust fund lawyers in Cape Town we have just started.

• 26 Nov 2024. If there is no last will and testament, then who the next of kin are, should be established and a form J192 filled in, which is an affidavit setting out the particulars of the next-of-kin. An executor must be nominated by the next-of-kin; this is done by filling in a letter of nomination to act as executor and submitting it to the Master of the High Court of South Africa, together with accompanying documents such as the Acceptance of Trust to act as Executor.

• 30 Nov 2024. List of law firms in Cape Town.

• 25 Nov 2024. Getting your conveyancer to be involved earlier in your private property sale, means they'll be able to assist with drafting deeds of sale, checking for servitudes and guiding other aspects of the sale; often at no extra cost.

• 21 Nov 2024. When a loved one passes, as difficult as it is, there are certain practical steps which need to be taken, such as applying for a death certificate.

• 20 Nov 2024. When applying for letters of executorship from the Master of the High Court, form J190 must be completed and submitted in duplicate.

• Example of an antenuptial contract with application of the accrual system.

• 30 Oct 2024. We are now covering conveyancers for athlone property sales.

• 17 Oct 2024. We are now listing notarial services in Cape Town..

• 17 Oct 2024. Explore deceased estate lawyers in Cape Town.

• 17 Oct 2024. What are 2025 conveyancing fees in South Africa? Fees up to April/May 2025 are known, and we speculate what the changes will be from end May 2025 to May 2026.

• 4 Oct 2024. What to do if your parent has died without a will. The laws of succession.

• 4 Oct 2024. You may be somebody's next of kin (e.g. mother/father) who has died and not left a will. To assist, here is a list of deceased estate administrators in Cape Town

• 4 Oct 2024. We've started a list of personal accident lawyers in Cape Town.

• 3 Oct 2024. Letter of executorship requirements, the cost of the application (zero upfront) and lawyers to act as agent (e.g. if there's property which needs to be transferred) or executor.

• 3 Oct 2024. Personal injury lawyers wanted.

• 2 Oct 2024. Here's how to estimate transfer costs on a property you inherit.

• 29 Sep 2024. Get a free last will and testament.

• 28 Sep 2024. Last will and testament sample for free.

• 18 Sep 2024. Who is an experienced conveyancer near me in Cape Town? Here's how to find names and a checklist of questions to put to them.

• 13 Sep 2024. Can you negotiate transfer costs when buying or selling property? Yes, and you must!

• 8 Sep 2024. ENS v Hawarden : Property purchase scam "man in the middle".

• With National Wills Week having passed, maybe now is the time to learn how to write a will. Here is a list of lawyers that do wills in Cape Town. They can help you draft your last will and testament according to South African law.

Under the new 2 pot retirement system's law, you must formally notify your spouse's pension fund in writing about the divorce proceedings, along with providing proof. Once this notice is given, the pension fund is legally prohibited from permitting any withdrawals, loans, or guarantees without the consent of the non-member spouse.

• 4 Sep 2024. Here's how to test the reasonableness of conveyancing fees. And don't be scared to initiate negotiations over attorney transfer fees.

• 3 Sep 2024. All the steps in the property transfer process.

• 1 July 2024. When selling a property generating an income you may want to transfer the property as a going concern.

• 26 June 2024. Be careful with what you take when you are divorcing and leaving home.

• 15 June 2024. Many people set up usufruct agreements under SA law to allow their surviving spouse to stay at their marital home after their death, but so that after the death of their spouse the property ownership reverts to their children; but this can become a lasting burden to their kids.

• 27 May 2024. Are you running a law firm outside of Cape Town? Immediately expand your firm's geographic reach by teaming up with a correspondent attorney in Cape Town.

• 23 May 2024. Learn what a conveyancing secretary job entails - the unsung heroes of the property transfer process.

• 19 May 2024. Looking for a conveyancing attorney in Bellville? You are spoiled for choice; click this link and see! Here's a list of 80 transfer attorneys and 8 property law firms in Bellville. Photo below is of the offices of Ipser, Terblanche and Donnelly; conveniently situated on Voortrekker Road opposite the Bellville Magistrate's Court.

• 18 May 2024. Not everybody knows that they can apply for a FLISP housing subsidy from Government, of up to R169k if their household income is low enough. Read the article to check whether you qualify.

• 17 Jan 2025. As a free service until the end of the year, we will list candidate attorneys seeking articles; the idea being that law firms can find them and contact them if interested in hiring them.

• 17 May 2024. A deep dive into the changes proposed to divorces for Government employees via amendments to the Government Employees Pension Law.

• 16 May 2024. Proposed retirement fund legislation opens the door for faking divorce to withdraw retirement component and enabling a tax arbitrage. The tax arbitrage works if spouses have big differences in marginal tax rates, like your stereotypical 1950s couple, with a stay at home wife and high earning husband.

• 13 May 2024. Is hiring an attorney or an advocate better for divorce cases?

• 12 May 2024. There are free lawyer services in Cape Town - there are some many people in need who cannot afford it. If you know of any other institutions who offer free services, please let us know so that we may add them.

• 10 May 2024. Muslim divorces are now regulated under the amended Divorce Act; with the President signing the Divorce Amendment Bill into the statutes on the 9th May.

• 9 May 2024. Transfer attorney fees are rising by about 5.3 percent, effective from 27 May 2024. If you are selling a property, you may want to contact your favourite conveyancing attorney and get a quote before then and lock in the lower rates.

• 7 May 2024. Get a conveyancing lawyer to sell your house in Mitchells Plain.

• 5 May 2024. List of Durbanville property transfer attorneys and experienced conveyancing law firms.

• 3 May 2024. I want to sell my house urgently

• 2 May 2024. Compare 14 law firms in Claremont which offer property services with 43 property lawyers in the area.

• 30 Apr 2024. Why you can sometimes get your lawyer to draft your will for free.

• 26 Apr 2024. The latest on deceased estate administration in South Africa.

• 20 Apr 2024 Get an ANC with Accrual calculation template for free, to help you DIY your divorce (free, but use at own risk)

• 14 Apr 2024. Life insurance and divorce in South Africa. Don't forget to change your will!

• Spousal maintenance : what the courts take into account. Recent case.

• An uneven division of assets for in community of property marriages is possible, but evidence is critical, as a recent case in the Gauteng High Court shows.

• Price of an antenuptial contract

• Man fakes his own death to avoid child maintenance payments.

• 3 April 2024 Marriage counselling to avoid divorce; American actress, Tori Spelling, shares her story.

• 29 March 2024 Divorce lawyer cost estimator
• 27 March 2024.Amicable divorces, unopposed divorces & the Easter Bunny
• 29 March 2024. Divorce & finances: what are legitimate expenses in assessing maintenance?.

Property law

• 24 Mar 2025. Free offer to purchase template being tested.
• 8 May 2024. Law society conveyancing fee guideline for 2024, effective from 27 May 2024

• 1 May 2024. List of conveyancing attorneys in Pinelands, Cape Town.

• Flat fee conveyancing in South Africa.
• Conveyancing best price guarantee

• 23 March 2024. Lawyers selling property cut out the need for an estate agent.
• 21 March 2024. Understanding Conveyancing Costs; & costs to transfer a property.
• 19 March 2024. We have embedded a transfer costs calculator so that you can estimate what the conveyancing fees are on the property you want to sell. Just enter the purchase price of the property and the calculator will do the rest of the work for you.

Recent articles on marriages

• Drafting ANC with accrual for couples getting married.

Articles on divorce law

• Understanding living annuities and divorce. What to do when an annuity in payment forms part of the joint estate but can't be surrendered or transferred to your ex as part of a divorce order.
• 14 May 2024. Is there a loophole in the proposed two pot retirement system, whereby your spouse can withdraw your retirement funds as cash before retirement (by staging a fake divorce and transferring it to your spouse as part of the divorce order), even for the retirement component, which is supposedly untouchable before retirement?

• Pension Interest's Tax Liability in Accrual Calculation - usually allowed for incorrectly!

  • Undisclosed Pension Interest at divorce results in amendment to divorce order

• Protection order
  
  • Grounds for issuing protection orders
• Inheritance and implications for child maintenance obligations

Popular Divorce topics

• Assets & Finances

• Community of Property

• Children

• Maintenance

• Divorce orders

Older published articles