The trouble with funeral expenses

In a 2002 case recently reported, NODADA FUNERAL SERVICES CC v THE MASTER AND OTHERS 2003 (4) SA 422 (TkH), the High Court of Transkei had to decide whether the actio funeraria still applied in South African law. The facts of the case are the following. The deceased's sister instructed Nodala Funeral Services to oversee the funeral, the cost of which would be recovered from a life insurance policy. After this had been done and the bill had been presented, it transpired that the deceased had nominated her daughter, a minor, as the beneficiary of the policy and that the funds were being held in trust by the Guardian's Fund. Nodala brought an action based on the actio funeraria against the minor. The court also investigated whether the instruction to Nodala amounted either to a mandate or negotiorum gestio.