Your husband’s behaviour is entirely his own fault – but before you take any action, ring a helpline for advice This article appeared recently in an advice column in a UK newspaper. It is heart-rending, and a sad real-life illustration of the challenges women face leaving an abusive marriage or relationship. We wrote a series […]
On the grounds of infidelity? Depends where you live The Six Nations rugby tournament is in full swing, and we know that South Africans enjoy rugby, even the northern hemisphere version. But did you know that traditionally Welsh rugby supporters sang the song Delilah, by fellow Welshman Tom Jones, at matches? The song has nothing […]
Dark empath vs. narcissist We’ve written a lot about narcissism on this blog, because as family lawyers we see a lot of survivors of narcissistic relationships. Narcissism as a trait is unfortunately not uncommon, and can cause a lot of damage to the individual in a relationship with a narcissist. There’s another type of person […]
I think my friend’s husband is emotionally abusing her. Should I talk to her about it? We’ve written a lot about narcissistic abuse, coercive control, and emotional abuse by partners. This letter to an advice column highlights a real-life example of emotional abuse by partners, raised by someone with deep concerns about her friend’s situation. […]
Can spouses evict one another from the marital home? Can one spouse evict the other from the matrimonial home? No. A spouse is not a tenant, even if the marriage is out of community of property and one spouse owns the home outright. Spouses have a duty of support to each other which includes the […]
2021 marks 30 years of Global 16 Days of Activism As long as I’ve been practising law, and as long as I’ve published this blog, I’ve been writing about violence against women (VAW), gender-based violence (GBV), domestic violence, domestic abuse, and a raft of other terms that basically refer to the same thing. Physical violence […]
What the law says Sadly, one of the causes of divorce or relationship breakdown is domestic abuse, whether physical or emotional. The situation is traumatic enough on its own, but when there are children of the marriage or partnership, it can become very complicated. Numerous competing rights need to be balanced. How do you go […]
What changes are in the newly published Domestic Violence Bill? In our practice, we see at first hand the extent of the gender-based violence epidemic in our country. It is a factor in divorce, and we are often involved in securing protection orders for women threatened by a potentially or actually violent partner. So we […]
