PLATINUM PLUS INTRODUCTION TERMINOLOGY. ABSA refers to Absa Insurance Company Ltd, the guys who underwrite the benefits that you ll

Transcription

1 PLATINUM PLUS INTRODUCTION It s our great privilege to welcome you to the LAW FOR ALL family! Today marks the first day of your brand new carefree journey doesn t it feel great knowing your legal worries are a thing of the past? The LAW FOR ALL Platinum Plus policy is designed to help you understand your legal rights and enforce these rights with the help of LAW FOR ALL. Your policy gives you access to legal assistance when you need it most, and your benefits kick into gear from the moment we receive your first premium. TERMINOLOGY ABSA refers to Absa Insurance Company Ltd, the guys who underwrite the benefits that you ll be enjoying as a LAW FOR ALL Policyholder. LAW FOR ALL - That s us! LIPCO Group (Pty) Ltd (the underwriting manager). Main Policyholder refers to YOU the person who applied for this policy and who is responsible for paying the monthly premium. SARS refers to the South African Revenue Service. 1 BENEFITS YOU ENJOY 1.1. Litigation Benefit This benefit covers up to R of your legal expenses per year. What s more, the benefit also covers your husband or wife (only one), your children who are still dependent on you (under 28,

2 not working, unmarried and permanently living with you), and any other family members that you may have added to your policy (if you ve chosen the extended family plan option). Remember, this is all subject to the rules and regulations in paragraph 1.2, so be sure to go read through it in great detail! You can use this benefit whenever you need a legal practitioner to represent you in the following cases: Civil actions: a. Where you want to sue another person for money, goods or services based on a written agreement. Remember that we cannot cover you if you don t have a written agreement with the other party. b. Where you re the one being sued by another person - it doesn t matter why they re suing you, as long as it doesn t go against any of the terms and conditions in this policy Criminal cases and bail applications where someone has accused you of committing a crime or doing something illegal. Please note: Guilty pleas are also covered, except for alcohol-or-drug-related matters An Employment related case, where you could lose your job if your boss wins the case Maintenance hearings where the person you are up against has a legal practitioner representing him or her; Divorce cases Representation in Domestic Violence disputes subject to a merit assessment However, before we can help you or cover you for any of these cases, there are a couple of conditions that apply: a. You can make use of this benefit, if the cause of the legal problem originated after the start of your policy, however, a 3-month Waiting Period applies to divorces. This also means that, whatever the problem or issue was that led to the court case, it must have originated at least 3 months after your policy has started. b. Your monthly LAW FOR ALL policy premiums must be paid and up to date in other words, we cannot help you if you owe us any money. c. Before we can provide cover, you must be able to prove to us that you have a good chance of winning your case. We will also look at other similar cases that have taken place in South Africa, to see how successful they were. Lastly, the LAW FOR ALL merits Committee will look at your case and decide whether or not it s worth going to court. If we feel that you do not stand a good enough chance of winning the case, the Committee will reject your claim. When it comes to criminal cases where it looks like you will in all likelihood be found guilty, we will cover you if you plead guilty that s to say, if the crime is not in any way related to alcohol or drugs. d. Later on in this document you ll find a list titled Your Obligations. In order to get cover or legal assistance, you need to tick all the boxes and fulfill every single one of those obligations; e. Whatever the case may be you need cover for, the fact is: It must have happened in South Africa and you must be a South African citizen. We can also only assist you if the case is being handled by a South African Court; f. When it comes to divorces, you will only be able to use R (per divorce) of your policy to cover it. As we mentioned before, there s a 3-month Waiting Period in other words, you can

3 only be covered for a divorce if the reason for the divorce started after 3 months. g. In a divorce battle, if your husband/wife has a legal practitioner at their side (and has served you a notice of intention to defend), this policy will cover you. Remember as the main Policyholder, you are the only one allowed to claim for a divorce case. We will try our utmost to cover your divorce, but remember we have to look at the merits and reasonable prospects of success. h. If you get married after you ve become a LAW FOR ALL Policyholder, your new husband or wife and their children will be added to your policy. Their Start Date will be the date of your marriage; i. Your policy does not cover any interdicts, eviction orders, sequestrations, Rule 43 applications (for instance, for maintenance or custody during a divorce case) or other self- motivated court applications. j. We do not cover civil matters that fall within the authority (i.e. Jurisdiction) of the Small Claims Court; k. If you decide to add family members to your policy (with the extended family plan) they will only be covered from the moment you ve paid their first premium. What s more, they will only be covered for legal matters that started after this Start Date; l. We cannot cover you if the case is based on any of the following: l.1. Where you ve been a victim of defamation of character, but you can t prove that your good name was publically tarnished and that you suffered financial loss as a result; l.2. Unlawful arrest or malicious prosecution for instance, if you were arrested without a valid reason and you now want to sue the State or complainant; l.3. Pain and Suffering- for instance if you suffered pain due to your Doctor s negligence. l.4. A transaction, case or issue that is business related. Remember, this policy covers your private life; and excludes legal disputes resulting from any business dealings. l.5. An issue or dispute between you and LAW FOR ALL, any of its employees or subsidiaries, or; l.6. A Constitutional Court matter; l.7. Civil commotion, labour disturbances, riots, public disorder, unlawful strikes, lock-out and civil disobedience, war, invasion, acts of foreign enemies, hostilities or warlike operations, mutiny arising in other words, if you cause problems in our beautiful country, we cannot take your side; l.8. Adoption or custody rights; l.9. Political activities in any government, local or tribunal authority that you ve taken part in; l.10. Any case where you were accused of being under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs; l.11. A case or issue where you re allowed to pay an admission of guilt fine. l.12. A claim against the Road Accident Fund Additional Benefits As they say, that s not all, folks! The Litigation Benefit in paragraph 1.1 is fantastic on its own, but there s so much more to your policy. You will also enjoy the following benefits: a. Access to a 24-hour Legal Emergency Line, which is ideal in the case of (for instance) after-hour bail applications; b. Legal advice on practically any legal matter where you re involved on a personal level (in other words, not business-related); c. Mediation Benefit: Our legal professionals will help you settle all your personal legal matters

4 in an attempt to avoid the courtroom! This means you don t have to deal with the stress and hassle involved with court cases. We will help you resolve your case by negotiating with the third parties via telephone, , fax and letters. This benefit only applies to cases that started less than 6 months before the Start Date of your policy and excludes business matters. d. If you are retrenched, LAW FOR ALL will provide you with FREE cover for advice and mediation for up to 12 months after you ve been retrenched this of course depends on how long you are unemployed, and we will need proof of your retrenchment. You will also have to let us know the moment you become employed again; e. Access to a variety of contracts, like sale and lease agreements all set up and ready for you to use. Simply contact our Legal Call Centre to get access to our templates; f. Up to 60% discount on transfer fees (not transfer duty) when making use of one of our recommended panel attorneys (do note, however, that your discount will depend on the actual purchase price). g. One free prenuptial agreement just remember that this is only available after a 3-month Waiting Period and that this benefit is only for the Main Policyholder. h. Payment of up to R bail money per policy per year, where we also covered the bail application and provided that the bail set at an amount not exceeding R (i.e no pro rata bail cover where the total amount exceeds R10 000). This amount will be paid to the court, provided a LAW FOR ALL approved panel attorney has been instructed to tend to the bail hearing. i. Rescission of a Magistrate Court judgment, provided that the judgment was obtained after the start of this policy. You will need to prove that you have a valid defense or alternatively that you have settled the judgement debt in full and that the creditor has consented to the rescission. Kindly note that rescissions based on a creditor s consent will be limited to 2 applications per policy per year. j. Estate assistance and tax advice have a look at Annexure A and B for more details on this. Please note: An important thing to remember is that any legal matter that isn t specifically mentioned under BENEFITS YOU ENJOY will not be covered by your policy. 2 OBLIGATIONS a. Don t delay when you become aware of a legal issue that you need help or cover for, make sure you report it to LAW FOR ALL within 30 days! b. When you want to report a new case, use the contact details on your policy card to get in touch with us and make sure that you have your policy or ID number on hand; c. If you feel that you were denied cover without good reason, or if you disagree with the way we handled your case, don t just leave it there! Please put your reasons in writing and send it to the person whose details appear on the rejection letter; d. Before you claim from your Litigation Benefit, you must first claim from any other insurance you might have for example, if you were in a car accident, first use your car insurance to repair your car; e. We can t help you if we don t have enough insight into your case. It s your responsibility to pay for and provide us with all the necessary documents, reports, statements and other evidence

5 that we might need. If you drop the ball and don t send us these documents, we may reject your claim so get your matters in order! f. When it comes to vehicle finance agreements, we can only cover you if you played by the rules. Always make sure that you stick to the rules of the agreement and that your car is only driven by licensed drivers. g. Whenever you send us information, triple check that it s 100% accurate, and don t keep any important information from us. If you are not honest with us, you can lose your cover entirely and you ll have to foot the bill for all legal fees. h. If ever you need to use a lawyer that s not part of our team, we ask that you chat to us and get our written approval first. If you don t, you ll have to pay all the legal fees and we won t be able to refund you for it. i. If you decide not to make use of LAW FOR ALL s lawyers to represent you in court, we will only pay up to the tariffs as set out by us. Any extra costs will have to come out of your own pocket. j. Let s talk about the Mediation Benefit here you re only allowed to make use of the mediators appointed by LAW FOR ALL. If you decided to use another mediator who was not approved and appointed by LAW FOR ALL (in writing), your policy won t cover it. k. If you want to cancel your policy, we ll be sad, but we won t stand in your way. We only ask that you give us 30 days notice (in writing, of course). l. You must attend all court dates. If you do not appear in court without a valid reason, and we lose any bail money (paid in terms of clause 1.3 (h)), you will have to pay the money back to LAW FOR ALL. m. Should you need to call on any expert witnesses to testify on your behalf, you will have to pay the bill. 3 PAYMENTS Your premium must always be paid on a monthly basis, for the month ahead (in advance). This means that you will then be covered until the next month, when your next payment is due. We understand that some months aren t easy, that s why we allow a grace period of 30 days (after the due date) for you to pay your premium. Unfortunately, if we still haven t received your payment by the end of the 30 days, your cover will be stopped. But all is not lost! You can start paying your premium again at any time, but please note that a reinstatement fee will be charged and your policy will have a new Start Date and Waiting Period. Keep in mind that your monthly premium is subject to annual review. That means we may adjust your premium due to external factors (such as inflation, increases in legal fees or operational expenses). Please don t worry! If you won t be able to afford the new premium, let us know and our sales agents will get in touch about more affordable options. 4 AMENDMENTS If, for whatever reason, we decide to change or cancel your policy, we will give you 30 days notice. Keep an eye on your inbox and postbox, because we ll be sending your notifications via

6 or by fax/post! If we feel that you are misusing your benefits or not playing fair, we have the right to add extra terms and conditions to your policy. As long as you keep to the rules, we ll go the extra mile for you simple as that! USE YOUR BENEFITS Simply call or your problem to or SMS YOUR NAME to and we ll call you back. Are you happy with our service? Or perhaps feel we can improve? We d love to hear from you. Contact our Client Service Team on or send an to feedback@lawforall.co.za. ANNEXURE A ESTATE ASSIST BENEFIT Wouldn t it be nice to know that your loved ones are taken care in the unfortunate event of you passing away? The Estate Assist Benefit is there for the people you leave behind. The benefit provides FREE assistance to your loved ones and executor, and includes the following: Basic Assistance a. Drafting/Amendment of a Will for you and your legitimate spouse. b. Help with the winding up of your estate. Where you did not appoint an executor (e.g. there isn t a Will available) or where a family member (who was appointed as your executor) needs some help in winding up the estate. c. 24-hour legal advice to the loved ones you leave behind (surviving spouse, children and parents) for up to 12 months after your date of death. d. Mediation for up to 12 months (from your date of death) to help your loved ones resolve any dispute that might have cropped up from your estate and/or Will. Estate Mediation LAW FOR ALL will appoint an estate mediator to help your family with all the nitty gritty little things, by: a. Consulting with your immediate family, and thereafter with the executor. b. Obtaining all necessary documents from your family to find out whether or not your estate should be reported to a magistrate s office or a master s office. c. Helping the executor to complete the necessary documents. d. Helping the executor to append the required documents. e. The estate mediators will also provide your executor with advice and assistance, after your estate has been reported, by: Going through your bank account or post, to find what monthly payments are being made. Closing your bank accounts and opening up a cheque/current account (this will only happen as soon as more than R100 has been received). Giving notice on shares, investments, annuities, policies, etc. so that the money that is owed to you and your will be paid into the account. If you ve chosen beneficiaries for certain policies, these policies will be paid out to those beneficiaries directly.

7 Drafting the Liquidation and Distribution Account. General Conditions a. This benefit can only be used by the executor of your (main Policyholder s) estate, as well as that of our husband/wife and dependent children. b. Under this benefit, our team at LAW FOR ALL is only able to provide you with advice and mediation, which means we cannot get involved in any form of litigation (represent you in court). c. Our team at LAW FOR ALL will consult with everyone involved via telephone conversations, letters, faxes and s, in order to help your executor to wind up your estate. d. We have the right to appoint a legal practitioner to help us fulfill our duty in assisting with any of the benefits under Annexure A. e. We cannot be held liable or responsible for expenses or costs that your husband/wife, dependents or executor might have had to pay in order to wind up your estate. ANNEXURE B TAX ASSIST BENEFIT 1. General Conditions As the main Policyholder, you can ask us for advice on your personal tax affairs and we can also help you to complete and submit your annual tax returns (for the current tax year only). As always, there are a few small conditions: a. Only you (as the Main Policyholder) can make use of this benefit. It s essential that you provide LAW FOR ALL (or our nominee) with all the documents we need to successfully complete and submit your annual tax return to SARS. b. It s your responsibility to ensure that we receive all the documents we need to successfully complete and submit your tax return. These need to be delivered to LAW FOR ALL at least 1 (one) calendar month before the applicable tax deadline. If you drop the ball and don t get the required information and documents to us in time, we have the right to refuse tax advice and assistance or charge additional fees. c. Remember: You can only use this benefit for your own personal tax returns business stuff is not included! Let s quickly run through all the perks that are included in your Tax Benefit: Completion & submission of tax returns Completion & submission of provisional tax returns Advice on salary structuring Tax planning Dispute resolution with SARS Objection on assessment from SARS Calculation of Capital Gains Tax Calculation of Donations Tax Assistance with assessment audits Advice on all of the above

8 2. Limitations a. This benefit only applies to you if you are a South African resident, and only if you are the main Policyholder. b. Sole Proprietors are excluded unless they can provide LAW FOR ALL with the relevant Financial Statements for the Sole Proprietor for the specific tax year. c. This benefit does not apply to you if you are a Close Corporation Member or Shareholder in a Private Company, unless you can provide us with the Financial Statements of that Close Corporation or Private Company for the specific tax year. d. Policies issued before 1 June will also be covered for the current tax year (submission of tax return between July and November) isn t that grand? e. On the flip side, policies issued after 1 June will only be covered from the following tax year. f. Remember: We can t remind you of your tax return. It s your responsibility to let us know when we need to complete your tax returns. g. In order to complete your tax return in time, we need to get all your documents at least 1 (one) calendar month before the tax deadline. h. We cannot cover submissions, objections and audit assistance of previous years. i. Please remember that we cannot not get documents from third parties on your behalf (e.g. IRP5s, medical aid certificates, etc) it s up to you! We also cannot phone third parties on your behalf. j. Whenever you have to make a payment to SARS, it s up to you to take care of it. k. Remember to update your personal and banking details with SARS directly - even if we have your new details, we can t contact SARS on your behalf.