Search judgments by proposition, citation, court, judge or legal topic, then move directly into the source-grounded case analysis.
Results update automatically as you type.
South Africa decisions
Decisions matching the current search
Lotter v Trustees for Time Being of Phildi Trust (13754/2023) [2024] ZAWCHC 158 (7 June 2024)
The High Court upheld an exception to a trust’s claim under a divorce settlement, finding no pleaded acceptance of a third-party benefit and an invalid pactum successorium.
Oosthuizen N.O v D.J.P.B and Others (20665/2021) [2023] ZAGPPHC 30 (24 January 2023)
The High Court held that a divorce settlement clause directing a pension to minor children upon death was an invalid pactum successorium and unenforceable against the estate.
Van Aardt v Van Aardt (342/05) [2006] ZAECHC 37; 2007 (1) SA 53 (E) (10 August 2006)
A full bench held that a deferred sale of farms to a brother or his descendants was a prohibited pactum successorium and unenforceable.
Nader v Grobler (4692/05) [2006] ZAGPHC 177 (26 April 2006)
The High Court dismissed an application to declare and register a usufruct over a house, finding material disputes of fact and no relief on motion.
Van Aardt v Van Aardt and Others (ECJ 062/2005) [2005] ZAECHC 28 (21 July 2005)
The court held that the deferred sale agreement vested rights in the applicant immediately upon its conclusion, and was not contingent on the uncertain event of which party died first. The agreement was not a pactum successorium, as it did not operate as a testamentary disposition but as a binding contract for consideration. The property was described with sufficient precision to comply with statutory requirements. The court further found no express or tacit resolutive condition requiring the continued existence of the partnership; clause 4 merely provided a mechanism for payment of insurance…
Source excerpt
McAlpine v McApline NO and Another (299/95) [1996] ZASCA 127; 1997 (1) SA 736 (SCA); [1997] 1 All SA 264 (A); (12 November 1996)
The majority held that the agreements between the brothers constituted a classic form of pactum successorium, as they provided for the reciprocal transfer of shares in the company upon the death of either party, contingent on survivorship. Applying the vesting test, the court found that the right to the shares did not vest inter vivos but only upon the death of the first-dying, making the disposition mortis causa. The agreements thus fettered the freedom of testation and circumvented testamentary formalities, rendering them invalid under South African law. The court dismissed the appeal, upho…
Source excerpt
Explore more
