Questions Before Booking an Antenuptial Contract Appointment

How to use this guide

These are engagement questions. The later consultation should deal separately with accrual, exclusions, commencement values, debts, businesses and the clauses that fit your circumstances.

First give the firm a safe, useful summary

A firm cannot confirm availability or scope without basic facts, but it does not need your entire financial life in an initial enquiry. Send:

• both intended spouses’ full names;
• the planned marriage date and the type of marriage or ceremony contemplated;
• whether either person has a prior civil, customary, religious or foreign marriage history;
• whether either person is outside South Africa or cannot attend easily;
• whether you need a new ANC, review of a draft or proof of an existing registration; and
• the date by which you need the contract executed, not merely the date of the celebration.

Redact identity numbers, signatures, account numbers and detailed asset values until the firm confirms its identity and secure intake channel. If customary-marriage events may already have occurred, say so plainly. The ordinary ANC route may no longer be available, and a routine appointment should pause for a status assessment.

Questions about the practitioner and responsibility

Ask for the name of the practitioner responsible for the notarial work and confirm that the person is admitted and enrolled to practise as a notary. The Legal Practice Act defines a notary as a practising attorney admitted and enrolled in that capacity. The Legal Practice Council’s public search is a useful control, but a directory result does not prove expertise, capacity or the terms of your engagement.

Ask:

1. Who will advise us, settle the draft and perform or supervise execution?
2. Who is our day-to-day contact?
3. Who is responsible for lodgement and monitoring deeds-registry registration?
4. Will any stage be referred to another firm or correspondent?
5. Who decides whether our marriage status or foreign element needs specialist advice?

Record names and responsibilities, not just a firm logo or reception email address.

Questions about what the booking includes

An “ANC package” can hide important differences. Request a written scope that separates:

• initial status screening;
• the legal consultation on matrimonial-property choices;
• collection and review of the document pack;
• drafting and agreed rounds of revision;
• explanation of the final deed to each intended spouse;
• notarial execution;
• lodgement, monitoring and responses to registry queries;
• proof of actual registration and delivery of copies; and
• any foreign-signing, translation, apostille or authentication work.

Ask which stages are included in the quoted fee and which require a further mandate. If a provider offers only a template or signature appointment, find out who will explain the clauses and check that the final document expresses the instructions.

The questions to ask during the substantive ANC consultation are intentionally handled on a separate page. That discussion covers the merits of the property system; this page helps you control the engagement before it starts.

Questions about timing and attendance

Section 87 of the Deeds Registries Act requires an ANC executed in South Africa to be attested by a notary and registered within three months after execution unless a court grants an extension. The critical first gate is earlier: the ordinary ANC must be executed before the marriage. The three-month registration period is not extra time to sign after the wedding.

Ask the firm:

• What is the earliest realistic consultation date?
• How much time is reserved for fact gathering, advice, drafting and revisions before execution?
• Which event does the firm treat as the legally relevant marriage deadline on our facts?
• Who must attend the consultation and execution, and what originals must each person bring?
• If someone is abroad, what route must be confirmed before any document is sent or signed?
• What happens if the proposed marriage date moves forward?
• What evidence will show actual registration rather than delivery or lodgement alone?

Do not ask for a guaranteed registration date. Ask for the stages, responsible owner, dependencies and warning date at which the plan must be escalated.

Questions about privacy and document handling

An ANC instruction may reveal identity data, previous marriages, assets, liabilities, business interests, trusts and family arrangements. Before uploading anything, ask:

• Which records are needed for the first consultation?
• Which secure portal or protected address should be used?
• Who can access the material?
• Should originals be brought rather than sent?
• How will superseded drafts be labelled?
• How will the executed original, protocol copy and returned documents be stored or delivered?

The ANC document-preparation guide provides the evidence index. Use it only after the firm confirms what is relevant; do not send an unfiltered archive.

Questions about fees, disbursements and extra work

Request a written estimate that distinguishes professional fees, VAT and disbursements. Ask which assumptions the estimate depends on and which events can create extra work, such as:

• complex exclusions, companies, trusts or foreign-law questions;
• a disputed or uncertain prior-marriage status;
• more drafting rounds than included;
• travel, translation, courier or correspondent work;
• registry queries or corrections not caused by the client; and
• a court application because the ordinary timing route is no longer available.

Agree how the firm will obtain authority before incurring an unplanned cost. Do not compare providers on one total alone if the included work differs.

Build a one-page booking comparison

Choose only after the material differences are clear. A lower price for an appointment that excludes advice, registration monitoring or final proof is not the same service as an end-to-end mandate.

Warning signs before you book

Pause if a provider:

• says any attorney or commissioner can execute the ANC;
• treats the wedding date as irrelevant;
• promises that signing within three months after marriage is acceptable;
• will not identify the responsible notary;
• asks for passports, signatures or detailed financial records through an unverified channel;
• cannot explain whether registration is included;
• treats lodgement as proof of registration; or
• presents a court application as a guaranteed administrative fix for late action.

FAQs

Related Lexuno paths

Related articles