本文採用行政院衛生署國民健康局中老年綜合調查研究中，由家庭計畫研究所提出的「台灣地區中老年身心社會生活狀況長期追蹤調查－長期研究第四次調查」，來分析遺贈動機與持有壽險之相關性。文中利用1999年53歲以上中老年人樣本，以兩階段二元邏輯斯特迴歸模型來估計；第一階段先估計其遺贈的機率，第二階段再輔以其他相關變數對持有壽險作迴歸。 實證結果顯示當受訪者留下遺產的機率或已分家產的機率愈高，持有壽險的機率就會相對降低，且有顯著影響，這是因為東方社會父母會在子女需要時給予適時的幫助，子女也大部分會孝順父母，因此不需要以遺贈去購買子女的關懷，也就是利他性遺贈動機使然。 其他如有伴侶的受訪者較不會去持有壽險；對子女關心滿意的程度對持有壽險有負向且顯著的影響（非全部迴歸式）；子女數則對持有壽險有正向且顯著的影響；有無自有房舍、有無第二屋、有無金融資產、財務狀況四變數對於持有壽險皆有正向且顯著的影響（非全部迴歸式）；從事公職對於持有壽險有負向且非常顯著的影響；有無公保與有無勞保兩變數對持有壽險有負向且顯著的影響（非全部迴歸式）；教育年限對持有壽險有正向且顯著的影響（非全部迴歸式）；年齡則對持有壽險有負向且顯著的影響（非全部迴歸式）。 / This thesis analyses the relationship of bequest motives and life insurance ownership by the use of the Survey of Health and Living Status of the Middle Aged and Elderly in Taiwan conducted by the Center for Population and Health Survey Research, Bureau of Health Promotion, Department of Health, Taiwan. We use two stage binary logistic model and samples above 53 years old in 1999 to regress. In the first stage we estimate the probability of leaving bequest or division; in the second one we use this probability and other related variables to regress on the variable of life insurance ownership. The results show that the higher the probability of leaving bequest or division, the lower the probability of life insurance ownership. The effect is negative and significant. This is because parents help their children when they are in need, and children are always filial to their parents in the east. Thus there is no need to leave bequest to purchase attention from their children. This is so called “altruistic bequest motive.” Other variables like having a spouse, satisfaction with attention from their children, public employment, government insurance for public servants, labor insurance and age have negative and significant effects on life insurance ownership. The number of children, having their own house, second house, financial assets, financial condition and education have positive and significant effects on life insurance ownership. Other variables like having a spouse, satisfaction with attention from their children, public employment, government insurance for public servants, labor insurance and age have negative and significant effects on life insurance ownership. The number of children, having their own house, second house, financial assets, financial condition and education have positive and significant effects on life insurance ownership.

Is the relationship between insurance consumption and its determinants spurious? Is general insurance a luxury service? Do bequest motives matter for life insurance consumption? Is private credit important for the development of life insurance? Do socioeconomic development and informal risk sharing institutions matter for formal insurance consumption? This thesis investigates these and other related issues using international datasets and relatively new panel data method, namely the Common Correlated Effects Pooled (CCEP) estimator. A novelty of the CCEP is that it takes into account the impacts of unobserved common factors. The thesis consists of an introduction, three empirical chapters and conclusions. Chapter 2 studies the relationship between nonlife insurance consumption and income/wealth per capita. Estimation results suggest that income elasticity is below unity and that nonlife insurance is positively related to GDP per capita, the law, risk aversion, infrastructural development, and negatively related to socioeconomic development. Chapter 3 explores life insurance consumption driven by bequest motives. We found that life insurance consumption is positively related to GDP per capita, old age dependency ratio, infrastructural development, and social security and welfare; and negatively related to the extended family institution, savings, inflation, and risk aversion. Estimation results suggest the presence of altruistic, and bequest as exchange old age security motives. Chapter 4 investigates the long run relationship and causality direction between private credit consumption and life insurance development. Life insurance development may be explained by GDP per capita, formal and informal credit consumption, infrastructural development, life expectancy, institutional quality, inflation, and Islam, and Orthodox being the dominant religions. Cointegration test results suggest that life and nonlife insurance consumption and its determinants exhibit a long run relationship; and that there is a long run bi-directional causality relationship between life insurance development and private credit consumption. The thesis concludes that insurance development requires institutional and infrastructural development-in particular- telecommunications infrastructure, to facilitate cost effective insurance supply.

Uppsatsen behandlar det förstärkta laglottsskyddet i 7:4 ÄB som är en viktig del av den svenska successionsrätten samtidigt som den är svår att tillämpa i praktiken. Det är därför av vikt att bringa klarhet i detta komplexa rättsområde. Syftet med uppsatsen är därav att utreda gällande rätt kring denna rättsregel och påvisa samt analysera de praktiska tillämpningssvårigheter rättsregeln ger upphov till för domstolen med avsikt att undersöka om den är i behov av en reform av något slag. För att uppnå detta syfte används en rättsdogmatisk metod, där rättspraxis har en framträdande betydelse i uppsatsen. När någon avlider ska dennes kvarlåtenskap fördelas genom den legala arvsordningen om inget testamente har upprättats. En arvlåtare kan fritt testamentera bort den ena halvan av arvslotten medan den andra halvan utgörs av bröstarvingarnas laglott. En bröstarvinge är alltid berättigad att utfå sin laglott, vilket föranleder att en bröstarvinge kan påkalla jämkning av ett testamente som inskränker hens laglott. Det förstärkta laglottsskyddet ger bröstarvingar ett ytterligare laglottsskydd. Rättsregeln aktualiseras när en arvlåtare har bortgivit egendom under sådana omständigheter eller på sådana villkor att gåvan är att likställa med testamente och särskilda skäl ej föreligger. Om gåvan inskränker en bröstarvinges laglott ska gåvan återbäras till dödsboet. Kan gåvan inte återbäras ska ersättning motsvarande gåvans värde utgå. I rättsregelns ordalydelse återfinns tre stycken vaga rekvisit, vars innebörd har utkristalliserats i rättspraxis. Domstolen har därav tolkat vad som innefattas i begreppet gåva, vad som ska likställas med testamente samt när särskilda skäl ska anses föreligga. Vid en tillämpning av rättsregeln måste domstolen således beakta dessa vaga rekvisit, som till sist utmynnar i en subjektiv bedömning. Med det i beaktande och i samband med att vissa situationer faller utanför rättsregelns tillämpningsområde, vore det önskvärt med en reform avseende det förstärkta laglottsskyddet. / The thesis discuss the reinforced statutory share of inheritance in the 7th chapter 4 § ÄB, which is an important part of the Swedish inheritance law but likewise difficult to implement practically. It is therefore important to clarify this complex branch of law. The purpose of the thesis is to examine applicable law concerning the legal rule and to detect and analyze the practical implementation difficulties that occur for the court in order to examine if the legal rule is in need of a reformation. To achieve this purpose, a legal dogmatic method is utilized; where case-law have a prominent part of the thesis. When someone passes away, his estate shall be allocated through the legal rule of inheritance if a will has not been created. A devisor freely can bequeath one half of the share of inheritance, while the other half constitutes the direct heirs statutory share of inheritance. A direct heir is always entitled to obtain his statutory share of inheritance, which means that a direct heir can claim a will that circumscribes his statutory share of inheritance. The reinforced statutory share of inheritance gives additional protection of the statutory share of inheritance for direct heirs. The legal rule is actualized if a devisor gives property away during circumstances or upon such terms that the bequest is equivalent with a will and special reasons does not apply. If the bequest circumscribes a direct heirs’ statutory share of inheritance, the bequest shall be refunded to the estate. If the bequest cannot be refunded, remuneration corresponding to the bequest shall be reimbursed. The legal rules’ wording consists of three vague necessary conditions, whose meaning has been crystalized by case-law. The court has therefore interpreted what the term bequest is contained of, what is equivalent with a will and when special reasons shall apply. The court must therefore pay attention to these vague necessary conditions when the legal rule is applied practically, which finally results in a subjective judging. With that in mind and that some situations is not regulated within the legal rule, it would be desirable with a reformation regarding the reinforced statutory share of inheritance.

<p>Before the rise of the ubiquitous MOCA (museum of contemporary) there was the Mus&eacutee national du Luxembourg that since its foundation in 1818, served as the first museum anywhere dedicated to contemporary art. Yet the Luxembourg has been left to lurk in the shadows of art history. Best remembered for its mismanagement of the Caillebotte Bequest (1894-1897) that left the French state as the beneficiary of several dozen Impressionist canvases, the Luxembourg has been dismissed as epitomizing official support for an exhausted academicism. </p><p> This dissertation has sought to correct these misconceptions of the museum and the Third Republic Fine Arts administration. It provides an institutional history of the museum under the early Third Republic (1871-1914) that reconsiders how different interpretations of republicanism informed its curators' policies and practices. Information culled from archives, official publications, art criticism, and even tourist brochures, has revealed that in the 1890s and especially the 1900s, the museum's curators embraced the politics of solidarism. Applying solidarist principles such as eclecticism, tolerance, and commitment to public education, its curators defended their acquisition of both avant-garde and academic works of art. These principles further spurred curators to trace the spectrum of contemporary painterly styles to French artist tradition. In so doing, the Luxembourg's administrators implicitly upheld republicanism as a characteristically, even classically, French ideology that, in its translation into paint and institutional policies, testified to the nation's continued cultural, artistic, and political supremacy.</p> / Dissertation

Die Arbeit befasst sich im Rahmen eines Modells überlappender Generationen hauptsächlich mit der Frage, wie sich das Vererben von Vermögen und die Besteuerung der Erbschaften auf die Vermögensverteilung auswirkt. Darüber hinaus wird allgemeiner der Aspekt der Effizienz der Erbschaftsteuer untersucht. Zudem werden verschiedene Vererbungsmotive behandelt, Ungleichheitsmaße vorgestellt und ein kurzer Einblick in das deutsche Erbschaftsteuerrecht gegeben.

Die Arbeit befasst sich im Rahmen eines Modells überlappender Generationen hauptsächlich mit der Frage, wie sich das Vererben von Vermögen und die Besteuerung der Erbschaften auf die Vermögensverteilung auswirkt. Darüber hinaus wird allgemeiner der Aspekt der Effizienz der Erbschaftsteuer untersucht. Zudem werden verschiedene Vererbungsmotive behandelt, Ungleichheitsmaße vorgestellt und ein kurzer Einblick in das deutsche Erbschaftsteuerrecht gegeben.

Βασικός σκοπός της εργασίας μας ήταν η ανάδειξη της ευεργετικής και κοινωνικής προσφοράς στην εκπαίδευση και τον πολιτισμό των Λακώνων ευεργετών, δωρητών και κληροδοτών και της προσφοράς τους στην Ελλάδα και την ιδιαίτερη πατρίδα τους αλλά και των αποδήμων, οι οποίοι προσέφεραν και στο νέο τόπο στον οποίο εγκαταστάθηκαν. Επιδίωξή μας υπήρξε η συνολική διερεύνηση και καταγραφή των Λακώνων ευεργετών, ανεξάρτητα από την προσφορά τους, μεγάλη, μικρή ή πολύ μικρή, στη διαδικασία διαμόρφωσης της εκπαίδευσης και του πολιτισμού, από τη δημιουργία του Ελληνικού Κράτους μέχρι τις μέρες μας. Επιδιώξαμε να δείξουμε τη χρονική συνέχεια που υπάρχει στις δωρεές, χορηγίες και ευεργεσίες από το 1821 μέχρι τις μέρες μας. Η ύπαρξη σημαντικού αριθμού Λακώνων ευεργετών και δωρητών από το 1821 μέχρι σήμερα αναδεικνύει τη διαχρονικότητα και την επικαιρότητα του λακωνικού ευεργετισμού. Καταβλήθηκε προσπάθεια για ανάδειξη της διάστασης και του μεγέθους του λακωνικού ευεργετισμού σε σχέση με το συγκεκριμένο τόπο και το χρόνο. Βασικό ερώτημα που μας απασχόλησε ήταν οι λόγοι που ώθησαν τους Λάκωνες ευεργέτες και δωρητές να προβούν σε πράξεις δωρεάς για την ενίσχυση της εκπαίδευσης και του πολιτισμού. Προσπαθήσαμε να επιχειρήσουμε μια σκιαγράφηση της προσωπικότητας των Λακώνων ευεργετών - δωρητών και των δράσεών τους. Το Ελληνικό Κράτος και η Λακωνία χάρη στη συμμετοχή των ευεργετών αναπτύχθηκαν με ταχύτερους ρυθμούς, αφού οι ευεργέτες χρηματοδότησαν έργα εκπαιδευτικά και υποδομών γενικότερα. Έχοντας ως βασικό κίνητρο την ανάπτυξη της Λακωνίας, ο απλός λαός και οι ευκατάστατοι Λάκωνες γηγενείς αλλά και της διασποράς διέθεσαν το σύνολο των περιουσιών τους ή ένα τμήμα της σε δωρεές προς το Κράτος και ιδιαίτερα σε λειτουργίες που αφορούσαν την παιδεία, την υγεία, τα κοινωφελή έργα, τη φιλανθρωπία. Βαρύτητα δόθηκε στη μικρή δωρεά και προσφορά προσώπων που προερχόταν από τα κατώτερα κοινωνικοοικονομικά στρώματα του λαού, γιατί τις περισσότερες φορές - αν όχι όλες - αυτή η δωρεά ήταν πηγαία, εξέφραζε στάση και ιδεολογία αλλά ήταν επίσης και πολύ σημαντική λόγω του πλήθους των μικρών δωρητών. Μας απασχόλησε η κατεύθυνση της δωρεάς των τοπικών ευεργετών και δωρητών. Αναζητήσαμε τα κίνητρα της ευεργεσίας των Λακώνων ευεργετών-δωρητών, τις αιτίες του φαινομένου της ευεργεσίας καθώς και την οικονομική σημασία των προσφορών. Πολλοί από τους Λάκωνες ευεργέτες λόγω της μακρόχρονης απουσίας τους από την ιδιαίτερή τους πατρίδα οδηγήθηκαν σε πράξεις ευεργεσίας που προήλθαν από τη νοσταλγία επιστροφής σε αυτήν, αλλά και από τη συνειδητοποίηση της αναγκαιότητας της ανασυγκρότησης των υποδομών της νότιας ηπειρωτικής περιοχής της ελληνικής επικράτειας. Μελετήθηκαν 385 διαθήκες και συμβολαιογραφικές πράξεις ως προς το χρόνο, τα κίνητρα, την προέλευση, το σκοπό της ευεργεσίας, την ιδιαίτερη καταγωγή του δωρητή, το επάγγελμά του, το φύλο, την κοινωνική και οικονομική του θέση. Η καταγραφή των πιο πάνω πράξεων έγινε σε πίνακες. Επίσης καταγράφτηκαν 1.752 πράξεις δωρεάς. Η εργασία αποτελείται από τέσσερα κύρια μέρη. Στο πρώτο μέρος αναφερθήκαμε στην έννοια της ευεργεσίας και της δωρεάς, στους όρους «ευεργέτης – δωρητής», στους τοπικούς ευεργέτες και στην αξία των μικρών προσφορών, στις επικρίσεις για την ευεργεσία. Επίσης έγινε αναφορά στην ευεργεσία στην αρχαία Ελλάδα και στο Βυζάντιο, στην ευεργεσία από το 1821 και μετά και στις σύγχρονες μορφές ευεργεσίας καθώς και στο ιστορικό πλαίσιο της Λακωνίας με έμφαση στην ανάπτυξή της από το 1821 και μετά. Στο δεύτερο μέρος αναφερθήκαμε στους Λάκωνες ευεργέτες - δωρητές και τους παρουσιάσαμε μέσα από τις διαθήκες τους. Αναφερθήκαμε στον ευεργέτη και την τύχη του κληροδοτήματος, στην περιπέτεια της δωρεάς η οποία μπορούσε υπό προϋποθέσεις να μεταβληθεί, στο χρόνο που έφθανε στον αποδέκτη, την καθυστέρηση. Προσπαθήσαμε να διερευνήσουμε την τύχη των κληροδοτημάτων. Επίσης τη γεωγραφία της ευεργεσίας, σ’ αυτούς που βρέθηκαν και σε δεύτερη πατρίδα και ευεργέτησαν και τις δύο πατρίδες. Ιδιαίτερη αναφορά έγινε για τους Λάκωνες ομογενείς ευεργέτες και δωρητές και συγκεκριμένα για αυτούς που βρέθηκαν και προσέφεραν στη γη που τους φιλοξένησε. Αναφέραμε τις βιογραφίες Λακώνων δωρητών, την επαγγελματική τους δράση και την κοινωφελή δραστηριότητα τους. Αναφερθήκαμε στα κίνητρα της ευεργεσίας και ειδικά σε εκείνα που συνδέονταν με την παιδεία. Το χρέος που ένιωθαν προς την πατρίδα, τις επιρροές και τα πρότυπα των ευεργετών, την οικογενειακή κατάστασή τους, την υστεροφημία και την αναγνώριση και ανακήρυξή τους ως ευεργετών. Στο τρίτο μέρος μάς απασχόλησε η δωρεά σε συγκεκριμένους επιμέρους τομείς της εκπαίδευσης. Στην πρωτοβάθμια, δευτεροβάθμια, επαγγελματική, τριτοβάθμια εκπαίδευση όπως ανωτέρω εκτέθηκε. Αναφερθήκαμε στην ανέγερση και συντήρηση των σχολείων, στις δωρεές που έγιναν για εποπτικά μέσα, βιβλιοθήκες, υποτροφίες. Στο τέταρτο μέρος αναφερθήκαμε στην κατεύθυνση της δωρεάς προς θέματα πολιτισμού, όπως τη δημιουργία δημοσίων και δημοτικών βιβλιοθηκών, δωρεές σε μουσεία, πινακοθήκες. Επίσης αναφερθήκαμε σε δωρεές σε εκκλησίες, νοσοκομεία, ορφανοτροφεία, γηροκομεία, άσυλα ανιάτων, προσφορές για τον αθλητισμό, την φιλανθρωπία, προσφορές για έργα κοινής ωφέλειας, στο Κράτος, σε δήμους και κοινότητες, σε συλλόγους. Η εργασία ολοκληρώθηκε με τα γενικά συμπεράσματα των όσων προηγήθηκαν. / The main purpose of our project was the emergence of the beneficial and social offer to education and culture of the Laconian benefactors, donators and legators and their offer to Greece and their hometown but also of the emigrants, who offered to the new land in which they were settled in. Our pursuit was the overall investigation and the record of the Laconian benefactors without regard to their offer, big, small or very small, to the process of the configuration of education and culture, from the creation of the Greek State until today. We have tried to show the temporal continuity that there is in donations, sponsorships and benefactions since 1821up to the present time. The existence of an important number of Laconian benefactors and donators since 1821 up to now highlights the timelessness and the timeliness of the Laconian benefaction. An effort was made for the emergence of the dimension and size of the Laconic benefaction in relation to the specific location and time. A basic question that occupied us was the reasons that led the Laconian benefactors and donators to make transactions of donation for the reinforcement of education and culture. We tried to attempt a delineation of the personality of the Laconian benefactors – donators and their actions. The Greek State and Laconia thanks to the participation of benefactors developed faster, since the benefactors funded educational and infrastructure projects generally. Having as a basic motive the development of Laconia, the common people and the wealthy native Laconians as well as of the dispersion gave their entire properties or a part of them in donations to the State and especially in functions concerning education, health, the public utility projects, charity. It was given leadenness to the small donation and offer by people who were coming from the lower socioeconomic layers of people, because most of the times – if not all – this donation was effortless, it expressed attitude and ideology but it was also very significant due to the large number of small donators. It occupied us the direction of the donation of the local benefactors and donators. We looked for the motives of the benefaction of the Laconian benefactors – donators, the causes of the phenomenon of the benefaction as well as the economic importance of the offers. Many of the Laconian benefactors, due to their longtime absence from their hometown, were led to acts of benefaction which came from the nostalgia of the returning to it, as well as from the realization of the necessity of the reconstruction of the infrastructure of the south mainland of the Greek territory. 385 wills and notarial deeds were studied in respect of the time, the motives, the origin, the purpose of the benefaction, the specific origin of the donator, his profession, his sex, his social and economic status. The record of the above actions was made in tables. Moreover, 1.752 acts of donation were recorded. The project is consisted of four main parts. In the first part, we were referred to the concept of benefaction and donation, to the terms “benefactor – donator”, to the local benefactors and the value of the small offers, to the criticism concerning the benefaction. Also, there was a reference to the benefaction in the ancient Greece and the Byzantium, to the benefaction since 1821 and onwards and to the contemporary forms of benefaction as well as and to the historical frame of Laconia with emphasis on its development since 1821 and onwards. In the second part, we were referred to the Laconian benefactors – donators and we presented them through their wills. We were referred to the benefactor and the destiny of the bequest, to the adventure of the donation, which could be altered under premises, to the time that it reached the receiver, to the delay. We tried to explore the destiny of the bequests. Also the geography of the benefaction, to those who were found and in a second country and benefited both countries. A special reference was made to the Laconian expatriate benefactors and donators and namely to those who were situated and offered to the land that hosted them. We mentioned the biographies of Laconian donators, their professional action and their charitable activity. We referred to the motives of the benefaction and especially to those, which were associated with education. The duty that they were feeling towards the country, the influences and the standards of the benefactors , their marital status, their posthumous fame, and the recognition and their nomination as benefactors. In the third part, we were occupied by the donation to specific sub-sectors of education. To the primary, secondary, professional, higher education as it was stated above. We were referred to the construction and maintenance of schools, to the donations that made for teaching aids, libraries, scholarships. In the fourth part, we were referred to the direction of the donation to cultural issues, as the creation of public and municipal libraries, donations to museums, galleries. Moreover, we were referred to donations to churches, hospitals, orphanages, nursing homes, hospices, to offers for sport, for charity, to offers for projects of public interest, to the State, to municipalities and communities, to clubs. Our project was completed with the general conclusions of the foregoing.

Estate planning is the arrangement and management of an estate owner’s estate to the effect that the estate owner and his beneficiaries can enjoy maximum benefit from his worldly possessions during his lifetime and after his death. Unfortunately, for estate owners and their beneficiaries, a deceased estate has to pay an executor’s fee, estate duty and capital gains tax on the demise of the estate owner, which means the amount the estate owner intended his heirs to receive, might be substantially decreased. For decades trusts have been used for estate planning purposes. The decision of the estate owner to utilise a trust for estate planning purposes involves the disposal of growth assets from the estate owner’s estate to the trust. This ensures that the value of a growth asset is pegged in the estate owner’s estate and the asset continues to grow in the trust. The asset is disposed of by way of a loan account in favour of the estate owner and the parties agree that the outstanding amount is payable on demand. In his will, the estate owner then bequeaths the outstanding amount back to the trust. However, Paragraph 12(5) of the Eighth Schedule to the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 stated that capital gains tax will be levied in cases where a debt is reduced or discharged by a creditor for no consideration or for an amount which is less than the outstanding amount. In ABC Family Trust ITC 1793 the estate owner transfer assets to the trust on a loan account and in her will, bequeathed the exact outstanding amount back to the trust. It was argued on behalf of the trust that the bequest constituted a set-off and not a discharge of the debt. However, the court stated that the set-off took place because of the “operation of law” which is specifically included in the definition of a “disposal” for capital gains tax purposes. The court applied Paragraph 12(5) and found that the trust is liable to pay capital gains tax on the full outstanding amount. In XXX Trust ITC 1835 the estate owner also transferred asset to a trust, but in her will she bequeathed the residue of her estate, and not the exact outstanding amount, to the trust. In this case the court placed emphasise on the intention of the estate owner and not on the possible application of Paragraph 12(5). The court found that it was not the intention of the estate owner to discharge or reduce the debt for no consideration. Subsequently, it was found that the trust is not liable for capital gains tax. Since these two cases Paragraph 12(5) has been deleted and Paragraph 12A inserted in the Eight Schedule to the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962. The focus of this mini-dissertation is to determine which estate planning tools were available to estate owners to prevent a capital gains liability under Paragraph 12(5). The capital gains tax effect that Paragraph 12A might have on estate planning is also discussed. / LLM (Estate Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This diploma thesis [in the master's course], drawn up at the Faculty of Law of Charles University in Prague, deals with the principles of the law of inheritance in Bohemia prior to its codification in 1811. Although inheritance law is one of the oldest branches of law, and was very thoroughly developed in ancient Roman law, in our territory it actually started to develop some more only after the Hussite movement. That is due to the fact that in the Middle Ages, the prevailing concepts were the ruler's right to bona vacantia and family indivisible ownership ["rodinný nedíl" in Czech], both of which did not really make it possible to pass estate from the deceased to their heirs. Therefore the aim of the thesis is to examine and gain a deeper insight into the historical development and historical contexts of the law of inheritance in our territory, which had preceded its modern form that was first codified in Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch [the General Civil Code], which accepted the structure of the Inheritance Patent of Joseph II in 1811. Part One of the thesis, Introduction, briefly discusses the law of inheritance as a specific element of legal science, the principles of inheritance law, and inheritance conditions and titles. Part Two, Excursion into History - Inheritance in Roman Law,...

Estate planning is the arrangement and management of an estate owner’s estate to the effect that the estate owner and his beneficiaries can enjoy maximum benefit from his worldly possessions during his lifetime and after his death. Unfortunately, for estate owners and their beneficiaries, a deceased estate has to pay an executor’s fee, estate duty and capital gains tax on the demise of the estate owner, which means the amount the estate owner intended his heirs to receive, might be substantially decreased. For decades trusts have been used for estate planning purposes. The decision of the estate owner to utilise a trust for estate planning purposes involves the disposal of growth assets from the estate owner’s estate to the trust. This ensures that the value of a growth asset is pegged in the estate owner’s estate and the asset continues to grow in the trust. The asset is disposed of by way of a loan account in favour of the estate owner and the parties agree that the outstanding amount is payable on demand. In his will, the estate owner then bequeaths the outstanding amount back to the trust. However, Paragraph 12(5) of the Eighth Schedule to the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 stated that capital gains tax will be levied in cases where a debt is reduced or discharged by a creditor for no consideration or for an amount which is less than the outstanding amount. In ABC Family Trust ITC 1793 the estate owner transfer assets to the trust on a loan account and in her will, bequeathed the exact outstanding amount back to the trust. It was argued on behalf of the trust that the bequest constituted a set-off and not a discharge of the debt. However, the court stated that the set-off took place because of the “operation of law” which is specifically included in the definition of a “disposal” for capital gains tax purposes. The court applied Paragraph 12(5) and found that the trust is liable to pay capital gains tax on the full outstanding amount. In XXX Trust ITC 1835 the estate owner also transferred asset to a trust, but in her will she bequeathed the residue of her estate, and not the exact outstanding amount, to the trust. In this case the court placed emphasise on the intention of the estate owner and not on the possible application of Paragraph 12(5). The court found that it was not the intention of the estate owner to discharge or reduce the debt for no consideration. Subsequently, it was found that the trust is not liable for capital gains tax. Since these two cases Paragraph 12(5) has been deleted and Paragraph 12A inserted in the Eight Schedule to the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962. The focus of this mini-dissertation is to determine which estate planning tools were available to estate owners to prevent a capital gains liability under Paragraph 12(5). The capital gains tax effect that Paragraph 12A might have on estate planning is also discussed. / LLM (Estate Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014