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Prior to the Constitutional Court ruling, customary law of succession rules that only the male
who is related to a deceased qualified as an intestate heir. Women did not participate in the
intestate succession of deceased estates.
Since the Constitutional Court ruling, a child’s share in relation to the intestate estate of the
deceased, shall be calculated by dividing the monetary value of the estate by a number equal
to the number of the children of the deceased who have either survived or pre-deceased such
deceased person but are survived by their descendants, plus the number of the spouses who
have survived such deceased.
Each surviving spouse shall inherit a child’s share of the
intestate estate or R 250 000, whichever is the greater.
Customary Law