Son’s Inheritance Up In Smoke

A South African student’s smoking habit cost him his inheritance, the High Court in Pretoria held on Tuesday. 

Dawid van Vuuren’s son contested his will, in which he disinherited his two sons and bequeathed everything to his two daughters.  Although his smoking son, Daniel, did not contest the will, Marius van Vuuren was unaccepting of the fact that he did not inherit anything. 

Marius asked the court to find that his father did not have a will and that he died intestate.  He said his father told their aunt on his deathbed that he had a will and all his four children were beneficiaries.  Yet, the children discovered a handwritten will after their father’s death.  In contesting the authenticity of the handwritten will, Marius said he regarded the paper simply as a threat, and not the “real thing.”

However, the judges found that clearly no other testament could be found, except for the piece of paper.  Dawid’s secretary signed it as a witness, required by law.  She worked for him for eighteen years and confirmed his signature was genuine.  Thus, the paper was accepted as the true will. 

See Zelda Venter, Sons’ Inheritance Claim Goes Up in Smoke, IOL News, March 4, 2015.