Civil weddings don't erase customary marriages

South Africa’s highest court has just delivered a landmark ruling on how marriage law works when traditional customs meet modern civil law, and it could affect thousands of couples, especially here in KwaZulu-Natal, where customary marriages are common. The Constitutional Court has clarified that a civil marriage does not erase or override an existing customary marriage. Instead, the two forms of marriage combine into one continuous legal union, and that has big implications, particularly for property rights, asset division and how matrimonial property is governed when spouses decide to enter into a civil marriage after being married under customary law. To help us understand what this ruling actually means, especially for families and couples here in KZN, and how it might affect things like property, inheritance and asset protection, we turned to our Legal Expert on Family Law, Chulumanco Ncapai, from Shepstone and Wylie Attorneys for deeper insight.