In an important decision handed down by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria it was held that despite not being formally married in terms of the Civil Union Act, Pretoria painter Eric Duplan was the sole heir to the intestate estate of his life partner Cornelius Laubscher. The case reaffirmed the Constitutional Court decision in 2007 that the Intestate Succession Act must be read so as to include the interpretation that other words would follow the word spouse. These words would include “partner”.News submitted by Mike Forsyth.