Family law insights and commentary from the offices of divorce and family law attorney Simon Dippenaar.
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StatsSA has published its marriages and divorces statistics for 2017. The report is based on a combination of population censuses, household sample surveys, and administrative data. Stats SA found that a total of 135,458 civil marriages, 2,588 customary marriages, and 1,357 civil unions were registered in 2017. A comparison with the 2016 data shows that […]
by Simon Dippenaar as featured on All4Women How to get a divorce when you don’t know where your spouse is Your marriage is on the rocks and you’ve finally decided to call it a day and file for divorce. The only thing is…your spouse is AWOL. How do you go about divorcing a missing spouse? […]
Couples often draw up antenuptial contracts to protect their assets in the event of divorce. No one thinks about insolvency. But your marital regime also affects what happens if one of you becomes insolvent.
An antenuptial contract with accrual is a fair concept, but it is not always appropriate Antenuptial contracts (ANCs) are a fairly standard part of modern wedding preparations. Prior to the Matrimonial Property Act of 1984, antenuptial contracts did exist, but were exceptional. The majority of marriages were in community of property (still the default marital regime in […]
Are you and your spouse from different countries? You can divorce in South Africa, but the process will depend on husband’s domicile at date of marriage. More.
Losing a partner is hard enough. What happens if you and your life partner are not married, but have spent years building a life together? There is no such thing as common-law marriage. Find out how to protect yourselves and your joint assets here.
Parents, whether married or not, have certain rights when it comes to their children, as we discussed recently. They also have responsibilities. All parents have a duty to maintain their children, and this obligation is unaffected by any access arrangements or the nature of the relationship with the other parent. Find out more about child support here.
What are my rights as an unmarried father? Traditionally, two people fell in love, got married, and then (usually but not always) had children. In that order. Pregnancy outside of wedlock carried stigma and young women were often sent away to have the baby, who might then be raised as the “child” of the grandparents. An […]
