diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index dd741750e..9af124852 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -238,3 +238,4 @@ suggestions:
   Tomas Babej
   Nick Person
   Arnoud K
+  Ozgur Akgun
diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index a8a339dfd..bd1c5db6e 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@
 - TW-115 allow "0day" durations for UDAs.
 - TW-128 new helper command; _envs.
 - TW-139 Possibility to execute shadow file generation (thanks to Arnoud K).
+- TW-145 default.due should accept a Duration (thanks to Ozgur Akgun).
 - TW-168 modification of due date relative to current due date (thanks to Dirk
          Sarpe).
 - TW-186 Increase for numerical UDAs (thanks to Steffen Uhlig).
diff --git a/doc/man/taskrc.5.in b/doc/man/taskrc.5.in
index a54c6f938..02e130789 100644
--- a/doc/man/taskrc.5.in
+++ b/doc/man/taskrc.5.in
@@ -1124,7 +1124,8 @@ command, if you don't specify one. The default is blank.
 default.due=...
 Provides a default due date for the
 .I task add
-command, if you don't specify one. The default is blank.
+command, if you don't specify one. You can use a date, or a duration value which
+is assumed to be relative to 'now'. The default is blank.
 
 .TP
 .B
diff --git a/src/Task.cpp b/src/Task.cpp
index 6d1bdb34d..a385dbff7 100644
--- a/src/Task.cpp
+++ b/src/Task.cpp
@@ -1399,7 +1399,13 @@ void Task::validate (bool applyDefault /* = true */)
         ! has ("due"))
     {
       if (context.columns["due"]->validate (Task::defaultDue))
-        set ("due", Date (Task::defaultDue).toEpoch ());
+      {
+        Duration dur (Task::defaultDue);
+        if ((time_t) dur != 0)
+          set ("due", (Date () + dur).toEpoch ());
+        else
+          set ("due", Date (Task::defaultDue).toEpoch ());
+      }
     }
 
     // If a UDA has a default value in the configuration,