by Sinal Govender and Claire Keet, cofounders of life.file in collaboration with property specialists, Araujo Attorneys

Buying a property usually involves a bit of creative thinking. You walk into a show house and start to imagine it as a home - your home. Your mind’s eye paints feature walls, open plans the kitchen and pictures your life - and all its big, happy moments - unfolding in the space. The last thing you’re likely to be thinking is: “what happens if I buy this home and then... die?”. People don’t like to think about and plan for the worst bits of life, like dying. (Who can blame us?!). But death and property ownership is a pretty big deal that we just don’t talk about enough. If you own property, or plan on entering the market, here are some of the most important things to know about kicking the bucket when you’re a homeowner...

by Sinal Govender and Claire Keet, cofounders of life.file in collaboration with property specialists, Araujo Attorneys

“Buy an investment property,” they said. “It’ll be a fantastic long term investment,” they said. Before making this enormous life decision, it’s important to think about all the aspects of being a landlord. There’s a lot to consider - like calculating when you’ll start turning a profit, finding (and keeping!) a reliable tenant, handling a lease agreement, becoming a member of a body corporate, hiring a managing agent, dealing with burst geysers, furnishing (or not furnishing) your property. A lesser discussed item on the list is what will happen to your properties and tenants when you kick the bucket one day...

by Sinal Govender and Claire Keet

There are a lot of wonderful things that come with adulthood. The freedom of finally being able to drive. And vote. And become a director in a company. And change your name. By law, you are no longer considered a minor. With adulthood, however, comes a whole lot of responsibility - including making sure that you have your “ducks in a row”.

by Sinal Govender & Claire Keet

It’s really hard to think and talk about your own death. It’s even harder to take action around preparing for death. You may sign up for life insurance or take out a funeral policy or make lifestyle choices to live a happier, longer, healthier life. But few of us go a step further to create a “when I die” folder - or, as we call it, a life.file - of everything our people will need one day when we’re not around anymore. Unless we’ve experienced a life threatening situation or experienced loss, the concept of death can seem ephemeral. It’s almost like our brains protect us from really engaging with the concept of our own mortality, despite it being a universal certainty for each and every one of us.

by Claire Keet & Sinal Govender

Here are a few really positive ways to start your day. Brew yourself a delicious coffee. Make your bed. Meditate. Write down the things you’re grateful for. We write this article with the full knowledge that “educate yourself about dying” is probably not high on your morning to-do list. If there are two things people usually avoid like the Bubonic Plague, it’s legal life admin and talking about death. Put those two things together in a blog post title and it’s unlikely we’ll be winning any crowd pleaser awards. But we’ll try to win you over anyway...

by Claire Keet & Sinal Govender

Having your legal life stuff organised and safely stored is more than being on top of your admin for “just in case”. It’s an empowered way of living your best life, knowing that if things go south for you, your loved ones won’t be left behind with an administrative nightmare on their hands. Things like your will, living will, insurance policies and a copy of your ID are the more obvious things to include in a life.file of all your important documents. A thorough life.file should have a few other things you may not have thought of...

by Claire Keet & Sinal Govender

Your will is arguably the single most important legal document you could have in your “life.file” of legal life stuff. It’s a good idea to have a solid grasp on what a will is and what function it serves before signing yours.

by Claire Keet Pollock and Sinal Govender, Co-Founders of pop.law

Based on a few chats we’ve had with people in our community, it appears there’s a bit of a vibe around freelance contracts. Especially when it comes to influencers and the contracts they do and don’t sign with the brands that they work with. (We know there’s also a bit of a vibe around the term “influencer” - call it what you will: digital creator, mom-fluencer, curator, online ambassador). What we’re talking about are people who market or review things to their online communities in exchange for a product, payment, trade exchange or sponsorship.

by Claire Keet Pollock and Sinal Govender

Picture this. A bright-eyed, bush-tailed creative, maybe a year or two into their career, gets a call from a massive multinational company to do some work for them. (Who me?! Yes, of course, I’d love to! What’s that? You’ve got a limited budget? No problem, it’d be an honour to work with your brand). Maybe this young gun is a photographer or a designer. Or a music producer. They’re told that money is tight on the job and are dangled the “exposure” carrot.

by Claire Keet Pollock and Sinal Govender, Co-Founders of pop.law

Today’s story of ‘life and law’ is enough to make any digital business owner’s eyeballs shrink to the size of raisins. If you own any online assets - a website, an online store, a social media feed - then this story might help you avoid pricey legal fees one day if the unthinkable happens: someone blatantly uses your content for their own commercial purposes without your permission.