Matters of interim maintenance
When a marriage disintegrates, the spouse who has been the homemaker and caregiver often finds themselves in dire financial straits. Statistically speaking this person is usually the wife and they then...
View ArticleRehabilitate your earning power
The term “rehabilitative maintenance” was coined to deal with situations where a maintenance order is set for a limited period of time before a divorce is finalised. Section 7(2) of the Divorce Act,...
View ArticleCan a jilted fiancée sue?
South Africa’s common law, which is created over time by custom (ie the behaviour and norms of society) and judicial precedent (the decisions of the courts), has historically recognised a claim for...
View ArticleRule 34: Breaking the divorce settlement gridlock
Settlement agreements come with their own complications, especially if you and your former spouse are battling to reach consensus around, for instance, who gets what, contact, residency, and cost...
View ArticleEmigration and relocation: your rights
In South Africa, all legislation related to the contact you, as a divorced parent, enjoy with your child (previously known as ‘access’) is contained in the Children’s Act of 2005. It outlines all your...
View ArticleCollaborative divorce – a new way of thinking
Collaborative divorce is a process that has gained traction in many countries, especially in the United States and Canada. Essentially, and similarly to mediation, it is a process that attempts to...
View ArticleUnderstanding the legal grounds for divorce
Before 1979, the grounds for divorce in South Africa included adultery, malicious desertion, incurable mental illness and imprisonment for at least five years of a spouse who was a habitual criminal....
View ArticleSingle moms and maintenance
This issue is very closely related to the parental responsibilities and rights of unmarried fathers, so a good starting point is to analyse what the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 says about the...
View ArticleWhat you need to know about getting married in community of property
Couples that get married in South Africa in terms of a civil marriage, which is governed by the Marriage Act without an antenuptial contract are automatically married in community of property. While...
View ArticleGiving children relational stability during a divorce
At a recent presentation about age-appropriate contact with children whose parents have gone through, or are going through a divorce, Lynette Roux of the South Africa Association of Mediators showed...
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