These divorce FAQs give short, practical answers to the questions people ask most often in South Africa: cost, timing, whether you need an attorney, what happens after summons is issued, and how children, maintenance and assets affect the route.
Quick answer: what should I check first?
First work out whether the divorce is likely to be unopposed, opposed, or delayed by non-cooperation. That answer affects the documents, service route, time estimate, cost exposure and whether children, maintenance or property issues need separate planning.
Official divorce references
For source context, the Department of Justice explains the summons and sheriff-service route in its divorce FAQ. Court form references are available from the Magistrates’ Court forms page, and the governing statute is the Divorce Act 70 of 1979.
Use the right divorce guide
- Divorce procedure in South Africa
- Uncontested divorce meaning in South Africa
- Divorce papers in South Africa
- Cost of divorce in South Africa
- Maintenance Court in South Africa
- Child care, contact and guardianship in divorce
- Division of assets in divorce
Divorce FAQs
The entire divorce process, if unopposed, takes between six and twelve weeks and costs anything between R7 500 and R15 000 (excluding VAT and disbursements).
If the matter is opposed, it becomes more difficult to estimate the costs involved and the time periods as each case is different and requires different amounts of litigation and drafting.
Divorce lawyers usually charge on a an hourly basis. The fees differ from firm to firm and depend on reputation of the firm, the urgency of the matter and the existence of minor children or disputes over division of assets.
It is recommended to budget for 10-20 hours of service.
The costs will also differ drastically depending on whether the divorce is opposed or unopposed. An unopposed DIY divorce can be done with R7 000, If one requires the professional services of an attorney that could then make the cost about R15 000.
Opposed divorces are unfortunately difficult to estimate but are usually extremely time consuming and expensive.
If the matter is unopposed, the divorce can be finalised in six to twelve weeks.
With opposed divorces, the time periods are difficult to estimate.
It is always advised to secure the services of an experienced divorce attorney with good time management and soft skills. Someone who will not only help you with your divorce legally, but emotionally too.
There are various documents that need to be drafted, depending on the complexity of the divorce (division of assets, care and contact over children etc), and this is best left to someone with legal experience.