Drum – 08 August 2019

42 | 8 AUGUST 2019 http://www.drum.co.za

Doyouhavea legalproblembutcan’tafford

a lawyer?

Nthabicanhelpyou.Writea lettertoDRUM,

POBox653284,Benmore2016.Ifyouhaveemail,

[email protected], orSMSyour

questiontoAusiNthabion36489*.*EachSMScostsR1,50.

Youdon’thavetouseyourrealname.

ASK

NTHABI

‘Themotherhadnolegalright

to tell you to stop payments’

Nthabiseng Monareng holds LLB and

LLM degrees from the University of the

Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Nthabi has

more than 10 years’ experience in the legal field,

specialising in family law. She’s written books

on family law and is a family law mediator.

AMI LIABLEFOR

HUBBY’SDEBTS?

I marrieda divorcee

andintermsofthe

divorcedecree,my

husbandisliablefor50%

ofthejointestatedebts.

DoesthismeanI’m

alsoresponsibleforthese

debts?Wemarriedin

communityofproperty.

ANONYMOUS,DURBAN

Yes,itmeansyouare

liable.Whenyougot

marriedincommunity

ofpropertyyouagreedto

beresponsibleforallyour

husband’sdebts,whichincludes

thedebtshehadwithhis

ex-wife.

Hisex-wifeisnowresponsible

for50%ofthedebtsand

youandyourhusbandare

responsiblefortheother50%.

WHOGETSSALARYOF

ADECEASEDPERSON?

Whathappensto

someone’ssalary

if theydietwodays

beforeit ispaid?Who’s

supposedtoreceivethe

money?

ANONYMOUS,JOHANNESBURG

Anemployeewhodies

beforetheirsalaryis

paidhasa rightto

receivetheirsalary.

Ifthedeathoccursjustbefore

theygetpaid,thecompanycan

depositthemoneyintothebank

accountwhichthedeceased

employeewasusingtoreceive

thesalary.

Iftheperson’sbankaccount

hasbeenfrozenbythebank

duetotheirdeath,theemployer

mustdepositthemoneyinto

theirestate’sbankaccount.

MOM’SCREDITORIS

THREATENINGHER

My mother owes

a certain creditor

money. They’ve been

calling a lot and are now

threatening to open a

criminal case against her,

saying they’ll have her

thrown in jail if she doesn’t

pay them what she owes.

Are they allowed

to have her arrested?

She’s unemployed at the

moment and trying her

best to get money to pay

the debt.

CONCERNED,EMAIL

Failure to pay a debt

doesn’t lead to you being

imprisoned or having a

criminal case brought against

you. The creditors are wrong to

call your mother in this way and

to harass her.

You can lodge a complaint

against them with the credit

ombudsman.

If the creditors want to

recover their money from

your mother they can issue a

summons and thereafter get

judgment against her.

MYFRIENDTOOKMY

CARWITHOUTASKING

I lent my car to one

of my friends but he

has now driven it to

another province without

my consent.

Can I report the car as

stolen?

ANONYMOUS,TEMBISA

The car cannot be

reported as stolen

because you voluntarily

gave it to your friend. If you

want the car back you need to

contact your friend and demand

he returns it.

If he still refuses to return

it, you can go to your nearest

police station and request that

they contact him and warn him

to return the car. Only if he then

refuses to bring it back to you

can you open a criminal case

against him.

When you demand your car

back and he refuses to return

it he will be regarded as being

in unlawful possession of the

car.

I boughta secondhandfridgefrommy

neighbour’sdaughterforR3 000 andwe

agreedthatI’dpayinmonthlyinstalments

ofR500.Afterthisthedaughter’smothertoldmeI

don’thavetopayforthefridgeandI thenstopped

makingpayments.

I havejustreceiveda letterofdemandfromthe

smallclaimscourtandthedaughterisdemanding

themoneyorthefridgeback.I amconfused.

CONFUSED,MAMELODI

When you bought the fridge, you made a sale

agreement with the daughter which means, legally,

you must pay for the fridge. The mother didn’t have

any legal right to tell you not to make the payments as she

is not part of the agreement. You need pay for the fridge or

return it.

AM I IN BREACH OF

CONTRACT?

ADVICE