Can My Girlfriend or Boyfriend Inherit If We Aren't Married in South Africa?

You've been together eight, ten, fifteen years. You own things together, you raise kids together, everyone treats you as a couple. Legally, in South Africa, none of that matters if you die without a will — your partner can inherit nothing, while your estate passes to parents or siblings you may barely speak to.

South Africa Does Not Recognise Common-Law Marriage

Unlike some countries, there is no such thing as a "common-law spouse" acquiring automatic inheritance rights in South Africa, no matter how long a couple has lived together. The Intestate Succession Act 81 of 1987 — the law that decides who inherits when there's no will — only recognises legally married spouses (including valid customary and religious marriages registered under the relevant Acts) and blood relatives. A life partner, however committed the relationship, has no automatic claim.

Did the Bwanya Case Change This?

In 2021, the Constitutional Court's judgment in Bwanya v Master of the High Court found that excluding permanent life partners from claiming maintenance and certain intestate benefits was unconstitutional in specific circumstances. It was an important step — but it is not a blanket guarantee. The judgment applies to specific, provable circumstances (a permanent, committed relationship with mutual duties of support), it doesn't cover every cohabiting couple automatically, and relying on a court to retroactively recognise your relationship after you've died is a slow, expensive, and uncertain process for your partner to go through while grieving.

What Actually Happens Without a Will

If you die intestate and are unmarried:

• Your estate passes to your children (if any), then your parents, then your siblings — in that order.
• Your partner receives nothing directly, even if you jointly raised children, jointly paid the bond, or jointly built a life.
• Your partner may be left fighting your relatives for a share of a home they've lived in for years — a home that may not even be in their name.

The Fix Takes 10 Minutes

A will overrides all of this. You can name your partner as a beneficiary, an executor, or both — with exactly the same legal force as if you were married. There is no requirement to be married to leave someone an inheritance; you simply need a validly signed will.

Things to specifically address in your will if you have an unmarried partner:

1. Name them explicitly as a beneficiary, with their full name and ID number.
2. Consider naming them as executor (with a security waiver clause — see our guide on the executor security bond) so they have legal authority to act immediately, rather than waiting on relatives.
3. Update beneficiary nominations on life insurance and retirement funds separately — these usually pass outside your will directly to whoever is named on the policy or fund nomination form.
4. If you jointly own property, understand that your share doesn't automatically pass to your partner just because you're co-owners — see our guide on what happens to a jointly owned home when one owner dies.

Don't Leave This to a Court to Fix Later

Bwanya was a hard-won legal precedent, not a substitute for a will. The safest, fastest, and cheapest way to make sure your partner is protected is to name them yourself, while you can. Create your will online — free, and make sure the person you've built a life with is legally entitled to what you'd want them to have.