Maryna holds the BA, LLB, LLM degrees and is a Director at the Cape Town branch of STBB. She is an admitted Attorney, Notary Public, Conveyancer and Insolvency Practitioner with many years of experience in the fields of property law, conveyancing and the laws relating to corporate compliance (especially in respect of the FICA and POPIA laws). Up until 2018 she was also head of the firm’s national marketing portfolio. She is a seasoned public speaker and presenter, both in person and online. She prepares text for the majority of STBB’s internal and external publications and is editor and co-writer for two pivotal publications in the South African real estate industry – the ABC of Conveyancing (JUTA) and Delport’s South African Property Law and Practice (JUTA).

Thought of the Week | Transfer Duty and Divorce

Where a divorce settlement agreement provides that a spouse will acquire sole ownership in the whole or a portion of property registered in the name of his or her divorced spouse, the transaction is exempt from transfer duty. Does it make a difference if this property was registered in the name of an entity? Yes, as the exemption applies only where the spouse held sole ownership in his or her personal capacity.

Thus, for example, where a property was registered in the name of a trust and was made over to a divorced spouse in terms of a settlement agreement, transfer duty is payable. Remember further that from SARS’s point of view, the ‘transaction’ occurred on the date of the divorce order, and the receiving spouse must pay the transfer duty within 6 months after that date, failing which a penalty on the outstanding amount becomes payable.

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