On 18 July 2008, Judge Dennis van Heerden of the High Court's Cape Provincial Division handed down judgment in favour of the applicant.

It was therefore unconstitutional for the surviving partners of polygynous Muslim marriages to be excluded from the protections granted to monogamous spouses under the Acts.

However, residual "interpretive difficulties" were presented by the language of section 1(4)(f) of the Intestate Succession Act, which dealt with the division of a deceased person's estate among his spouse and descendants.

No party opposed confirmation; indeed, the High Court's order was actively supported by the fifth respondent, the Minister of Justice, as well as by two amici curiae, the Women's Legal Centre Trust and Muslim Youth Movement of South Africa.

Wim Trengove represented the applicant during the Constitutional Court's hearing, which was held on 19 February 2009, and judgment was delivered on 15 July 2009.

[4] In a unanimous judgment written by Justice Bess Nkabinde, the Constitutional Court substantially endorsed the reasoning of the lower court:[5][6] to exclude polygynous Muslim spouses from spousal intestate succession was to discriminate unfairly against them on the grounds of religion, marital status, and gender, all protected grounds in terms of section 9(3) of the Constitution.