key to the study guide - Name

Accrual system =
postponed community
of profit
Marriage out of
community of profit
during its subsistence
Accrual sharing at
dissolution of marriage
Distinction between
claim and right
128
2 WHEN AND HOW ACCRUAL SHARING TAKES PLACE
In paragraph ``7.4.3 When and how accrual sharing takes place'' on
page 98 of your textbook, you will see that the accrual system can be
described as a type of postponed community of profit.
ACTIVITY
Explain very briefly what it means when we say that the acrual system is a
type of postponed community of profit.
FEEDBACK
The accrual system is based on the idea that both spouses should upon the
dissolution of the marriage, share in the assets accumulated by them
during the marriage, without a joint estate having existed between them
during the subsistence of the marriage.
Note that during the subsistence of the marriage it is out of community of
property and of profit and loss. Each spouse retains and controls his or her
own estate and everything which a spouse acquires during the subsistence
of the marriage falls into his or her own separate estate.
However, on the dissolution of the marriage the spouses share equally in
the accrual. Your textbook explains that the accrual is shared as follows:
The spouse whose estate shows no accrual or the smaller accrual acquires a
claim against the spouse whose estate shows the larger accrual. The claim
is for an amount equal to half the difference between the accrual of the
respective estates. Suppose the accrual of H's estate on the dissolution of
the marriage is R50 000 while the accrual of W's estate is only R10 000.
The difference between the accrual of the respective estates is R40 000. W
then gets a claim for an amount equal to half the difference, namely
R20 000.
You will further see in your textbook on page 99 that a spouse's claim to
share in the accrual of the other spouse's estate arises only at the
dissolution of the marriage. The one spouse's right to share in the other
spouse's accrual eventually cannot be transferred during the subsistence of
the marriage. It is not liable to attachment during the subsistence of the
marriage, nor does it form part of the insolvent estate of a spouse.
Ensure that you understand the distinction between the accrual claim (that
one spouse has against the other spouse [or the estate of the other spouse]
upon the dissolution of the marriage for half the difference between the
accrual in the respective estates), and the right (a spouse has during the