key to the study guide - Name

130
years ago, a spouse declared the initial value of his or her estate to be
R10 000. Suppose further that, during the marriage, money
depreciated to such an extent that according to the consumer price
index, R2,00 20 years ago is now worth only R1,00. The initial value
of the estate as adapted by the consumer price index is therefore
R20 000. Many students make the mistake of calculating the initial
value as adapted by the consumer price index as R5 000 because
R2,00 of 20 years ago is now worth only R1,00. To avoid this mistake,
you should concentrate only on the VALUE of money and not be
misled by numbers. Twenty years ago you could have bought a specific
asset for R10 000. Because the value of money has depreciated, you
now need at least twice as much money to buy the same asset today.
The initial value of R10 000 is therefore expressed as R20 000 in
terms of the consumer price index. The same VALUE which a spouse
had in his or her estate at the beginning of the marriage must be
subtracted from the net value at the dissolution of the marriage. In
any given set of facts (whether in the assignment or the examination)
we usually indicate to which extent the value of money depreciated
since the time of the conclusion of the marriage. If this is not
indicated you need not look up the CPI in the Government Gazette, but
may assume any value with which to adapt the commencement value
of the estate. It is usually easiest to assume simply that R2,00 at the
time of the conclusion of the marriage is now worth R1,00 in which
case you would simply multiply the commencement value by two. You
may use the value of your choice Ð as long as you remember to
state what value you are using. So, even if we do not stipulate in a
set of facts that the value of money depreciated since the time of the
conclusionofthemarriageitshouldbeassumed,andthenecessary
calculations should be set out clearly.
(3) Thirdly, you must subtract from the net end value all the assets which
are excluded from the accrual by statute. The assets excluded from the
accrual are listed under the heading ``(c) Assets which do not form
part of the accrual'' on pages 102±103 of the textbook from (1)±(4).
Regarding the assets in paragraph (1), namely, ``Any non-patrimonial
damages a spouse receives during the marriage'', you have to
distinguish between patrimonial damages and non-patrimonial
damages. Because students experience problems with this distinction
we have decided to explain the meaning of each of these terms under
the heading ``Problem area'' below.
(4) Once the accrual of the spouses' respective estates has been
determined, you must establish which spouse's estate has the smaller
or no accrual, and determine his or her claim by
(a) firstly, subtracting the smaller accrual from the larger accrual in
order to determine the difference between them
(b) secondly, dividing the difference by two in order to determine
what half the difference is