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Study Unit 3: Intestate Will Case Law Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by

Cause Law for Study Unit Three: Intestate Succession (UCT PVL2003)

This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.

Harris v Assumed Admini­str­ator, Estate MacGregor

When do intestate heirs obtain their personal rights against the executor of the deceased estate to claim payment of their respective intestate shares? (When does dies cedit occur?)
When a deceased died without leaving a will/l­eaves an invalid will, dies cedit for the deceased’s intestate heirs occurs on the deceased’s death
When deceased left valid will that took effect on the deceased’s death, but became inoper­ative, either wholly or partially, dies cedit for the deceased’s intestate heirs occurs the moment the will became inoper­ative
Example
In valid will A left R10K to B if B completes the first Marathon to take place after A’s death (in June 2019). If not, the R10K goes to C.
A died in November 2018. C died in March 2019. B failed to complete marathon.
The bequest of the R10 000 has now become inoper­ative: B failed to meet the condition for inheri­tance, and the altern­ative benefi­ciary (C) is already deceased
The R10 000 will now be divided amongst A’s intestate heirs.
Who these heirs are will be determined in June 2019 and will not be determined retroa­ctively with reference to November 2018 when A died. At this point they obtain dies cedit.
 

Unwort­hiness to Inherit

Blood relatives may be disqua­lified from right to inherit if they are found unworthy
The establ­ished grounds of unwort­hiness are:
- Person who murdered deceased cannot inherit from deceased estate
- the person who murdered one or more of the deceased’s conjun­cti­ssimae personae (the persons most closely related to the deceased) cannot inherit from the deceased
- the person who stands to receive an inheri­tance by reason of a crime committed or other unlawful conduct perpet­rated against the deceased cannot inherit from the deceased
1) Ex parte Steenkamp and Steenkamp
- The court found that a deceased’s conjun­cti­ssimae personae are generally their parents, spouses and children
Therefore: Therefore, if A (son) murdered B (A’s father), A cannot inherit intestate from C (A’s mother) if C subseq­uently dies intestate. This because A murdered a conjun­cti­ssimus of C, B
2) Casey v The Master
- Husband convicted of culpable homicide (negligent killing) of his wife (married in community of property) wasn't disqua­lified from receiving half of the joint estate in terms of matrim­onial property law.
- Husband disqua­lified from inheriting wife’s will because public policy prescribes that culpable homicide should in approp­riate circum­sta­nces, partic­ularly if the killer acted in a morally blamew­orthy manner, result in the unwort­hiness of the killer to inherit from his/her victim
- The common law recognised negligent killing in approp­riate circum­stances as a ground for unwort­hiness to inherit -no reason to believe common law position no longer applies in modern law
3) Pillay v Nagan
- Son who forged mother's will (declared invalid) was unworthy to be an intestate heir of his mother
- Based on fact that he sought to deprive his siblings of their share in their mother’s estate by making a false will for his mother in which he was the principal benefi­ciary
- Public policy demands that someone who sought to defraud others of their rightful inheri­tance by forging a will should be unworthy of inheriting from the estate of the person whose heirs s/he attempted to defraud