Johannesburg High Court rules that mother did not have to give notice before taking money for maintenance arrears Reprinted from GroundUp, by Tania Broughton – 2022-05-06 The Johannesburg High Court has ruled that a mother whose ex-husband owed maintenance payments for their children was entitled to take money from his pension without notice. Judge Tina […]
Supreme Court of Appeal has ruled that maintenance orders will only prescribe after 30 years Reprinted from GroundUp, by Geoffrey Allsop – 2022-02-01 The Supreme Court of Appeal has ruled that maintenance orders will only prescribe after 30 years, not three. The appeal court upheld a high court judgment that had ordered a man to […]
Reprinted from the Pretoria News, by Zelda Venter – 2021-08-13 Pretoria – The courts have once again warned that those who do not pay maintenance will feel the long arm of the law. A judge yesterday ordered a father and well-known businessman to report to jail within five days to start serving a jail sentence. […]
New family court seeks to reduce domestic violence President Cyril Ramaphosa has repeatedly expressed his commitment to eradicating our “second pandemic” – gender-based violence, domestic violence and femicide. We recently wrote about the Domestic Violence Amendment Bill, which seeks to strengthen the existing provisions of the Domestic Violence Act, most notably by introducing a domestic […]
Is R20,000 a month on groceries excessive? The judge thought so! Even with five hungry mouths to feed, R20,000 a month was considered by one judge to be an unrealistic food bill. In a recent maintenance case that appeared before the Limpopo High Court, a woman claimed she had a R60,280 shortfall each month, consisting […]
Johannesburg – Child maintenance defaulters will soon have nowhere to hide. The Department of Justice and Correctional Services will soon start using registered cellphone and telephone numbers, company registrations, credit profiles, court judgments, property purchases, sales and transfers as well as vehicle regulations, to trace child maintenance defaulters. The government believes this will ease dependency […]
If you are a parent, here is how the proposed changes to the Children’s Act will affect you South Africa has some of the most progressive children’s legislation in the world. The Amendment Bill before Parliament strengthens protective measures for children even further and aims to close gaps in the child protection system. This article […]
When many parents are struggling to afford enough for their children to eat, it’s perhaps a little difficult to find sympathy for the mother who wanted R130,000 per month in maintenance. Fortunately sense prevailed in the court. Reprinted from the Pretoria News, by Zelda Venter – 2020-07-29 A mother wants her estranged husband to pay […]
