Johann Jacobs

Summary Profile

Johann Jacobs is a director and National Head of our Trusts and Estates practice. He has practiced exclusively and specialises in work relating to the law of succession, estate and trust administration, amongst others, 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. In August 2011, Johan was appointed as an examiner for the Attorneys Admission examination.

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 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 at Cliffe Dekker (now Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr).

Education

• 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

Memberships

• Cape Law Society
• Fiduciary Institute of South Africa

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.