{"id":850972,"date":"2026-02-15T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=850972"},"modified":"2026-02-13T16:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T14:16:10","slug":"standard-bank-sends-a-warning-to-certain-couples-getting-married-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/850972\/standard-bank-sends-a-warning-to-certain-couples-getting-married-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Standard Bank sends a warning to certain couples getting married in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa’s latest Constitutional Court ruling on customary marriages means that many South Africans getting married need to plan carefully. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Constitutional Court judgement, handed down on 21 January 2026, overturned a High Court ruling that had found part of the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act unconstitutional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Constitutional Court upheld the law, but ruled that couples cannot casually change their matrimonial property arrangements after entering into a customary marriage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case follows a divorce dispute between a couple who entered into a customary marriage in 2011. They then decided to formalise their relationship through a civil marriage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, they signed an antenuptial contract stating that their civil marriage would be out of the community of property and subject to the accrual system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They then married in 2021 in a civil ceremony without dividing the joint estate that existed under the customary marriage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the relationship broke down, one spouse tried to enforce the antenuptial contract. However, the other argued that the contract was invalid and that allowing the agreement would be unconstitutional. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A significant finding of the Constitutional Court found that customary marriage does not end when spouses later enter into a civil marriage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Civil marriage absorbs, or “subsumes,” the customary marriage. In legal terms, there is one continuous marriage that begins under customary law and later becomes governed by civil law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court warned that treating the civil marriage as terminating the customary marriage would undermine the Recognition Act’s very purpose and revive discrimination against customary marriages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, the antenuptial contract in the case was invalid, not because the law itself was unconstitutional, but because the couple failed to follow the proper legal process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crucially, the ruling also confirmed that customary marriages in South Africa are automatically in community of property. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standard Bank warning<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Standard Bank said the ruling has significant implications for estate planning, after the court confirmed that customary marriages are automatically part of the community of property. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legal and fiduciary experts from Standard Bank and Liberty noted that cultural traditions like Lobola or Mahadi, and the subsequent celebration, carry legal weight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many couples see the formal introduction of families only as the first step to signal long-term intentions, or as a way to live together before marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These introductions can trigger enormous consequences once Lobola has been negotiated and the ceremony is publicly celebrated in line with traditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

South African law already treats the payment of Lobola or Mahadi as part of a customary marriage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if the ceremony is followed by a “white wedding,” it doesn’t matter if a dowry is paid and some form of celebration takes place; the marriage is legally recognised as in community of property. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe new ruling goes further because it says any antenuptial contract signed after that day is invalid,” said Liberty Senior Legal Specialist Faeeza Khan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This makes it critical to decide and register your marriage regime before families meet.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shaka Zwane, Standard Bank Head of Insurance, said that the regime you choose – or default into when you don\u2019t have an antenuptial contract – determines how assets are divided years later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, if one entered into and celebrated Lobola in accordance with customary law without an antenuptial contract, the spouse has a legal claim to half of one’s estate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experts warned that the ruling places an extra burden on due diligence on those getting married, who need to investigate their full marital history, confirm the validity of their first union, and scrutinise their contracts. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The latest ruling from the Constitutional Court means that South Africans engaging in civil and customary marriages need to plan carefully. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":849773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[11127,499],"class_list":["post-850972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-opinion","tag-liberty","tag-standard-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=850972"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":850997,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850972\/revisions\/850997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}