DIY Wealth Creation

Legal costs, in any country, can be quite scary. The moral of the story is to stay out of trouble where you’d require any legal assistance and think really carefully previous to entering into litigation with a third party. A recent high profile case involving a VIP personage, resulted in him being found guilty of all the charges laid against him and a legal bill of R17,6M

High legal costs, like the aforementioned, are not at all unusual as the cases involve senior advocates with their research teams, and span 3 or more years- And the courts are full to the hilt with cases. While the Law Society sets the fees to be charged by attorneys, such fees are really for the basic tasks, like client correspondence, the price of services in the transfer of property etc. Whenever you and I receive the bills from these skilled men and women, it’s possible for us to faint at the prospect of paying these bills – and not the professionals that issue the bills. Be wiseinsure against any legal expense. You will find legal underwriters who will insure you for reasonable legal costs brought about by litigation. These costs are limited, of course, but it’s infinitely better than having to find thousands of Rands because your wife’s pretty little pooch happened to fancy a piece of the neighbour’s kid’s right calf for lunch. These insurance packages are affordable and the insurance provider will refer you to a legal practitioner on their books. The ensuing bill (a limited amount per annum) is then settled by the insurer.

Getting involved in litigation of any sort requires considerable financial commitment on your behalf and if you lose the case, you might be more often than not held accountable for the legal costs of your opponent as well. The result is an unwelcome double whammy, that may even have been prevented if you thought clearly and unemotionally on the matter in the 1st instance. But, of course, sometimes it becomes necessary to enter into litigation, but do so with the full knowledge of all of the feasible consequences of this kind of action. Unfortunately the high cost of legal action put numerous persons in a position where justice simply isn’t done since they cannot afford the legal costs to pursue justice. This means that the guilty person, who has the money, sometimes escapes justice at the expense of the injured party.

So, give the Kaiser his due and pay your taxes, keep stones away from your little ones and don’t let them handle any cricket ball near the neighbour’s huge picture windows. Be nice to the nasty traffic cop, and for heaven’s sake “say” to the dog “Don’t get involved in any slinging matches with your mother in law, because calling her names might land you in court and cost you a lot of money”. This could possibly be particularly true if the judge does not have a sense of humour and won’t accept your explanation of an unfortunate misspelled term used in describing your mother in law.