My father was a Clint Eastwood fan. He quoted The Good, the Bad and the Ugly often enough that I knew the title long before I ever saw the film. Apparently it is a 1967 Western cult classic, which I still have to watch.

But when I recently read about a family dispute over a R22 million estate that ended up in the Western Cape High Court, that title was the first thing that came to mind. I don’t know the parties involved, and what follows is based only on what was reported.

The good

Although the size of the estate was significant, it’s not what caught my attention – what the testator did before anyone started fighting was. She included a clause in her will that specifically named an individual to resolve any disagreements among her four children, with a clear instruction to ensure equal sharing if conflict arose.

Most people don’t think to do this. They draft a will, divide the assets, and trust that their family will work it out. She understood that grief and money can be a difficult combination, and she planned for it.

Personally, I would have included a formal mediation clause as a first step. Mediation gives the parties a neutral third party who helps them reach their own agreement, rather than having an outcome decided for them.

The bad

Three of the four siblings and the executor went to court anyway, and I honestly understand why this happens. Even when a resolution process exists, people don’t always use it. Emotions run high, positions become fixed and sometimes one party is convinced they have the stronger legal case and would rather fight for it.

But what people often underestimate is that inheritance disputes almost always happen at the worst possible time. People are already navigating the loss of someone they loved, and now they’re stepping into a hostile legal process on top of that.

The ugly

The real “ugly” in this instance is about so much more than just the legal fees. Once you’re on opposite sides of a courtroom with your siblings, something happens to the relationship that a judgment cannot fix, whether you win or lose. A court can determine who gets what, but it cannot undo what was said, or repair what broke in the process.

A different path

There is a reason the testator thought ahead. She knew that grief and money combined can push people toward decisions they might not otherwise make.

Although mediation isn’t a magic fix, it offers something a courtroom doesn’t: a guided conversation rather than a confrontation. No one needs to be declared right or wrong. And if preserving a relationship with your siblings is important to you, the process you choose may be the most important decision you make, regardless of who wins the legal argument.
This family had that option built into the will, but sadly, they didn’t use it.

Read the article here: https://thepost.co.za/news/2026-06-18-family-division-judge-rules-that-all-four-siblings-entitled-to-share-in-mothers-r22-million-estate/