Trusts, wills and estates · Langeberg Ridge, Western Cape
HML Estates Trust and Estate Administrators
A one-person trust and estate practice needed a website that reads naturally in Afrikaans and English, states its services plainly and sends every enquiry straight to the principal. We designed and built a single hand-coded page with a language switch, a compliance warning that earns the call, and a mail handler that confirms every message. No frameworks, no web fonts, nothing to maintain.
Hand-coded HTML
CSS
PHP mail handler
EN / AF switch
System fonts only
hmlestates.co.za
No. 01 · The brief
One specialist, two languages and a page that says plainly what he does.
Müller Lourens spent thirteen years at a Stellenbosch law firm before opening HML Trust and Estate Administrators. Clients wanted more than legal knowledge: they wanted one person who answers the phone, explains things in their own language and takes responsibility from the first call to the final account.
The brief: a single page that works in Afrikaans and English, explains deceased estates and trusts without jargon, warns trustees about new compliance duties, and makes it easy to reach Müller by email, phone or WhatsApp. It had to be fast, cheap to host and need no maintenance.
Client
HML Trust and Estate Administrators (Pty) Ltd Langeberg Ridge, Western Cape
Role
Design, build, bilingual setup, SEO and launch
Built with
Hand-coded HTML and CSS, PHP mail handler over SMTP
Afrikaans and English on one switch, not two websites.
Every sentence on the page exists twice in the HTML, once in each language. The EN / AF switch in the menu shows one set and hides the other, with no reload and no second site to keep in step. The choice is remembered in a cookie for a year, so a returning client lands in their own language.
ENAF
hmlestates.co.za
EnglishYour Will. Your estate. Your trust. One specialist.
hmlestates.co.za
AfrikaansU Testament. U boedel. U trust. Een spesialis.
Written twice, not translated later
Each block carries its English and Afrikaans text side by side, so the two never drift apart when a service changes.
Search engines see both
Nothing loads after the page. Google reads the Afrikaans and English text in one visit, and the page lists both locales.
Dutch, too
The practice serves Dutch-speaking clients in person. The site says so in the top bar and in the structured data.
No. 03 · In numbers
Small practice. Nothing vague.
1page, with every service on it
2languages on one switch, Dutch spoken too
8services, each with its own heading
4steps from first call to final account
0web fonts or frameworks to load
R10mthe penalty the page explains in plain words
No. 04 · Colour and type
Navy for authority, gold for the signature, parchment for the paper.
Every colour comes from the HML crest: a navy shield with gold lettering. Navy carries the headings, the hero and the footer. Gold is kept for rules, numbers and the one button that matters. The page sits on warm cream and parchment rather than white, so it reads like good stationery, not a form.
Navy#19253C · Headings, hero, footer
Deep navy#223250 · Cards and bands
Gold#B59B69 · Rules, buttons, numbers
Deep gold#96794A · Small text on light
Cream#FAF7F3 · Main ground
Parchment#F1EADE · Statement band
Ink#262320 · Body text
Aa
GeorgiaHeadings, the quotation, service numbers and the R10m. A serif every computer already has, so nothing downloads and the page paints at once.
Aa
ArialBody text, menu, labels and the form. Clear at every size, in both languages, with no font file to wait for.
No. 05 · The page
hmlestates.co.za
One page, in the order a client reads it.
Someone who has just lost a parent does not want to browse. They want to know who this is, what he does, what it costs to ask, and how to reach him. The page answers in that order and stops.
01
WelcomeYour Will. Your estate. Your trust. One specialist. The promise, two buttons and three facts: LLB qualified, direct access, three languages.
02
One point of contactA single quotation from Müller on parchment: one person who takes personal responsibility for your matter from beginning to end.
03
AboutThirteen years in practice, why HML exists, and a credentials panel with qualifications, title, company registration, area and languages.
04
Estate servicesFull administration, Section 18(3) estates under R250 000, estate planning and wills. Four numbered cards.
05
Trust servicesRegistration as the lead card, then deed amendments, beneficial ownership compliance and ongoing administration.
06
How it worksGet in touch, free first consultation, clear quote, we handle it. Four steps on one line.
07
ComplianceThe new duties on trustees and the R10m penalty, stated in plain words.
08
ContactEmail, phone and WhatsApp, the address, languages, and a short form that confirms every message.
No. 06 · The section that earns the call
R10m. The number every trustee stops on.
South African trust law has changed. Every trust must now keep a beneficial ownership register, lodge it with the Master, and report IT3(t) distributions to SARS each tax year. Miss it and the fine runs to R10 million, five years in prison, or both.
Most trustees have never heard this. The page tells them in two short paragraphs, shows the number, and offers to handle it. It is the section that turns a reader into a phone call.
R10mMaximum penalty
Non-compliance is a real risk
Failure to maintain and lodge the beneficial ownership register is an offence carrying a fine of up to R10 million, imprisonment of up to five years, or both. We keep your trust compliant so you don’t have to worry about it.
Get in touch
No. 07 · Mobile
Built for a phone in a waiting room.
Most clients first open the site on a phone, often in the days after a death in the family. Every section stacks cleanly, the menu shrinks to the essentials, the EN / AF switch stays within thumb reach, and the phone, email and WhatsApp buttons are one tap. The form fields are tall enough to fill in with a thumb.
HomeThe promise and the three facts
EstatesFour services, each explained
ComplianceThe R10m warning, in plain words
ContactTap to call, WhatsApp or email
No. 08 · The enquiry
Every message lands twice, before anyone picks up the phone.
A custom form, written for this practice and sent through the firm’s own mailbox over SMTP, so Gmail and Outlook trust it. No plug-ins and no third-party form service holding a client’s details.
1
The visitor writes inName, email, phone if they like, and what they need. Required fields are checked before anything is sent.
2
Müller gets a branded emailNavy and gold, with the message and a Reply button. Pressing Reply answers the client directly.
3
The client gets a copyA confirmation in the same style, with the text they sent, so they know the message arrived.
4
Nothing is lostIf SMTP ever fails, the handler falls back to the server’s own mail. WhatsApp and email stay one tap away as a direct route.
NameAnneke Malherbe
Phone082 555 0123
Emailanneke@example.co.za
MessageGoeie dag. My pa is in Augustus oorlede en ek het hulp nodig met die boedel. Kan ons gesels?
Send message
Spam stopped silently
A hidden field only robots fill in
A timer that rejects forms sent faster than a person can type
An arithmetic check the page answers by itself
No puzzles, no “select all the traffic lights”
No. 09 · Search and AI
Found whether they search in Afrikaans or English.
People search in the language they think in. The keywords carry both languages, every sentence on the page exists in Afrikaans and English, the page declares en_ZA with an af_ZA alternate, and the structured data names the practice as a legal service with its founder, address, phone and the three languages spoken. Search engines and AI assistants can read it and repeat it correctly.
Classic search
Title and description written for the search result
One h1 and a real heading order
Canonical URL, sitemap and robots.txt
An anchor id for every menu item
Keywords in Afrikaans and English
AI and structured data
JSON-LD LegalService with legal name and registration
Founder named, with the LLB credential
Address, phone, email and area served
Languages: af, en, nl
Facts stated, never implied
Sharing
Open Graph title, description and 1200 × 630 image
hmlestates.co.za
