Roberta Robertson has been in a relationship with Jordan Shandler...

Roberta Robertson has been in a relationship with Jordan Shandler for over 25 years. They occupied the same residence and were in a relationship characterized as a permanent life or domestic partnership. It could be accepted that Ms Robertson and Mr Shandler were in an exclusive permanent life partnership, but they never formalized the relationship by concluding a civil marriage. Mr Shandler died intestate with an estate to the value of R2.1 Million.

He is survived by the following individuals:

-      Roberta

-      Jordan's daughters Joy and June (born from an earlier relationship);

-      Grant (Roberta and Mr Shandler's estranged son who left home 3 years ago and has a methamphetamine addiction)-

-      Billy-Bob, Grant's son born out of a brief relationship Grant had before leaving home (; and     

-      his brother Xander:

Roberta finds it unfair that she does not qualify as Mr Shandler's spouse for the purposes of intestate inheritance. She believes the provisions section 1(a) and (c) of the Intestate Succession Act to be unconstitutional because it discriminates on the basis of marital status. Discuss the validity and potential success of Roberta's claim of unconstitutionality with reference to Volks NO v Robinson and Others (CCT12/04) [2005] ZACC.