DISTRIBUTION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS ILLEGAL
**These are key points taken from Word documents. SOME parts are directly quoted, others have been simplified by me. I do not take
credit for any knowledge expressed in this document, only the summary of notes and easy access to key points that I found important**
Du Toit, Francois. (2022). Law of Succession Study Unit 1-3. Unpublished manuscript, PVL2003H, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Definitions and Concepts of Study Unit 3
Blood Relatives
- Descendants – your blood relatives who descend directly from you
- Ascendants (or ancestors) – your blood relatives from whom you
descend directly
- Collaterals – your blood relatives with whom you share at least one
common ascendant (other than ascendants and descendants)
o full-blood collaterals: are those with whom you share two
common ascendants
o half-blood collaterals: those with whom you share just a single
common ascendant
- parentela: a particular parental group and its descendants
o 1st parentela: The spouse (if any) and the descendants of
the deceased person
o 2nd parentela: The parents of the deceased and their
descendants (excluding those in the 1st parentela)
o 3rd parentela: The grandparents of the deceased and
their descendants (excluding those in the 1st and 2nd
parentelae)
Stirps