DISTRIBUTED BY VERITAS TRUST Tel: [263] [4] 794478 Fax & Messages [263] [4] 793592 E-mail: veritas@mango.zw Veritas makes every effort to ensure the provision of reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied. Judgment No. SC 42/18 Civil Appeal No. SC 84/13 deceased executed his will prior to his civil marriage with the appellant. The relevant law at that time was s 13 of the African Marriages Act [Chapter 238] which provided as follows: “The solemnization of a marriage between Africans in terms of the Marriage Act shall not affect the property of spouses which shall be held and may be disposed of unless disposed of by will shall devolve according to African law and custom.” Since the appellant and the deceased were married in terms of civil law, general law applied and the law applicable to the will at the relevant time was s 2 of the Deceased Estate Succession Act [Chapter 302] which provided as follows: “Except in the case of a party to a joint will who has adiated, a will, other than a joint will of an intended husband and wife who thereafter married each other, executed by any person prior to marriage shall become null and void on marriage unless such person endorses on such a will that it is desired that the same shall remain in full force and effect. Such endorsement shall be duly signed and witnessed in the manner required in the case of a will.” The court a quo concluded that since the will in contention had no provision that preserved its validity, the will became null and void upon the contracting of the civil marriage between the appellant and the deceased. It was on the two approaches above that the court a quo dismissed the application before it. Therefore, in considering whether or not this appeal should succeed, the question is whether or not it can be said that the court a quo erred in dismissing the application. The learned judge a quo was so logical and clear in determining the validity of a will in the absence of an express statute that governed what divorce would do to a will executed by an African in the event of his death. Moreover, it appears clearly from the will that the deceased 7