The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg has declared a father unworthy to inherit from his late son’s estate worth more than R716,000 after finding that he had been virtually absent from the young man’s life for 29 years.
The court ruled that the father’s complete abandonment of his son, from infancy until his death at the age of 29, justified disqualifying him from inheriting under the common-law principle of unworthiness to inherit.
Acting Judge Frank Snyckers found that although the father remained the deceased’s biological parent for purposes of intestate succession, his conduct warranted a declaration that he was unworthy to benefit from the estate.
The application was brought by the deceased’s mother, who was the executrix of his estate, after her son died without leaving a will.
The court heard that the deceased had no spouse, life partner, children, siblings or dependants when he died. His estate was valued at R716,070.24.
Under the Intestate Succession Act, the deceased’s surviving parents would ordinarily have inherited the estate in equal shares, entitling each to approximately R358,000.
However, the mother approached the court seeking to prevent the father from benefiting from the estate, arguing that he had played virtually no role in raising their son.
Father disappeared from son’s life after infancy
According to the judgment, the parents had a brief relationship when the mother was 18 years old, resulting in the pregnancy.
The father made a few payments before the pregnancy but showed little interest and was not present when the child was born.
The couple never lived together. During the first month after the birth, the father provided some nappies before largely disappearing from their lives.
When the child was about a year old, the father visited him in hospital after he had been injured. That was effectively the last meaningful involvement he had in his son’s life.
The mother initially pursued maintenance through the Maintenance Court, but the payments were sporadic.
After she found employment when the child was about a year old, she stopped pursuing maintenance and raised him herself, with assistance from her mother, brothers and other relatives.
When the boy was about six, his mother’s life partner became a father figure to him.
The court heard that the deceased had no meaningful relationship with his biological father throughout his life. Apart from a chance encounter at a function, where the two did not speak, there was no evidence of contact between them.
The father also contributed nothing towards his son’s upkeep for the remainder of his life.
The son died on July 7, 2021, after contracting Covid-19.
Court rejects argument that father was not a parent
The mother initially sought an order declaring that the father was not a parent for purposes of the Intestate Succession Act, which governs the distribution of estates when a person dies without a will.
Her application relied on an earlier High Court judgment which dealt with the inheritance rights of a father who had abandoned his young child.
However, Judge Snyckers said he could not follow the interpretation adopted in that case that the meaning of “parent” under the Intestate Succession Act could be adjusted according to a person’s conduct or the extent to which they deserved that status.
He explained that the legislation was intended to establish clear rules for determining who inherits an estate, rather than requiring courts to assess whether a biological relative deserved to inherit.
The judge said the Act expressly recognised blood relationships in determining inheritance rights and did not provide that a father who had failed to acquire parental rights under the Children’s Act, or whose parental rights had been terminated, automatically ceased to be a parent for inheritance purposes.
He therefore found that the father remained a parent under the Intestate Succession Act.
However, this did not mean he was necessarily entitled to inherit.
Ruling limited to complete abandonment
The judgment cautioned against interpreting the ruling as meaning that every absent parent should automatically lose the right to inherit from a deceased child.
Judge Snyckers said the decision dealt specifically with the complete and sustained abandonment of a child by a father from essentially the beginning of the child’s life.
He said questions about less extreme cases, including parents who had maintained some involvement but had fallen short in other respects, would have to be considered in future cases.
The judge also found that granting the alternative relief of declaring the father unworthy to inherit would not prejudice him, as the factual allegations and the reasons for seeking his exclusion were essentially the same as those in the original application.
The court ultimately declared the father unworthy to inherit from his late son’s estate.
The mother’s application was dismissed in all other respects, and the costs were ordered to be paid from the deceased’s estate.
The ruling means that the father cannot inherit from the estate despite remaining the deceased’s biological parent under the Intestate Succession Act.
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