Belinda Jane van Heerden (born 30 September 1959) is a retired South African judge who served on the Supreme Court of Appeal between 2004 and 2013.
Between 1997 and 1999, she was also the project leader of the South African Law Commission committee that reviewed the Child Care Act of 1983.
[3] While still in academia, van Heerden was appointed as an acting judge in the Cape High Court.
Van Heerden was an acting judge in the Supreme Court of Appeal between 1 June 2003 and 1 August 2004.
[2] During that time, in July 2004, the Judicial Service Commission interviewed her as a candidate for permanent appointment to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
[8] During her time as an acting justice, van Heerden wrote the Constitutional Court's unanimous judgment in Gory v Kolver, which ruled that the Intestate Succession Act of 1987 was unconstitutional to the extent that it did not grant same-sex partners the same rights of intestate succession that it conferred on heterosexual spouses.
[10] Although she was shortlisted for the position by the Judicial Service Commission, she announced shortly afterwards that she had withdrawn her nomination, without providing her reasons for doing so.