Summary Profile
Johann has practiced exclusively and specialises in work relating to the
law of succession, estate and trust administration inter alia, estate
planning, the drafting of wills, deceased estate administration, curatorship
applications and administration, drafting and registration of trust deeds and
trusteeship and trust administration. He also has extensive experience in
litigation and dispute resolution pertaining to matters relating to succession,
estate, trust and curatorship administration. For 11 years Johann presented the
course on estates administration to Candidate Attorneys for the Law Society of
South Africa.
Johann is often appointed as a Discretionary Executor by the Master in
problematic estates. He has published articles in De Rebus and Without
Prejudice and in the general press in respect of matters relating to deceased
estates and has appeared as a guest speaker on radio and television in respect
of matters relating to deceased estates. Johann has acted in a number of
matters leading to case law in this field. Johann is also a qualified mediator
and arbitrator.
Career
Johann began his career as a Secondary School Teacher and after further
post-graduate studies lectured at tertiary level in educational psychology and
sociology. Whilst studying law part-time, Johann completed his articles at
Macintosh Cross and Farquharson in Pretoria whereafter he moved to Cape Town
and was appointed as an Associate at Walkers. After three years he founded and
remained a Partner at Jacobs and Pieterse for six years, then returned to
Walkers Inc as a Director for a period of six years. After a short period in
New Zealand as a Senior Advisor to a large trust company, in August 2008 he
returned to South Africa to take up an appointment as a Director and National
Head of the Trusts and Estates practice at Cliffe Dekker (now Cliffe Dekker
Hofmeyr).
Education/Qualifications
BA HdipEd (PG), University of the Witwatersrand
BEd MEd BProc
University of South Africa (UNISA)
Post-graduate paper on estate duty and
donations tax, University of South Africa (UNISA)
Estates and Trust paper
of the New Zealand Law and Practice admission exam
Year of admission: 1992
as an attorney; 1998 as a conveyancer
Experience
| • |
Estate planning and drafting of wills
and trust deeds |
| • |
Liquidation of deceased estates |
| • |
Administration of testamentary and
inter vivos trusts |
| • |
Curatorship applications |
| • |
Administration of curatorship
estates |
| • |
Court applications and actions in
respect of matters dealing with succession and estate and trust
administration |
| • |
Resolving problematic estates |
| • |
Forensic enquiries into actions of
erstwhile executors/curators/trustees |
