Legal Articles and Guides
Grandmother awarded rights for grandchildren
Facing an appeal by a father against a lower court order that his two sons’ grandmother may have contact with them, Eastern Cape High Court (Makanda) Judge JW Eksteen remarked that ‘grandparents, like heroes, are as necessary to a child’s growth as vitamins.’
Father wins fight to keep children in SA
A Johannesburg father has won a battle to keep his two children in the country after relatives of his late estranged wife sought to take them to Scotland.
Hidden marriage sparks dispute after husband’s death
A husband who was married to two wives and took this secret to his grave resulted in a legal tussle between the wives as to who is the legal spouse and stands to benefit from his estate.
Widow seeks rights to deceased husband’s frozen sperm
A widow is pinning her hopes on the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) to grant her ownership of reproductive material kept at a fertility clinic after her husband died.
Court orders mother to return child to Australia
A South African woman who married an Australian military man, came to SA to visit her parents with their one-year-old baby and decided not to return home, has been ordered to immediately take the boy back to his father, reports TimesLIVE.
Father faces imprisonment for defying interdict
A father who sent threatening messages to his estranged wife, despite her obtaining an interdict against him, must go to jail, a KZN High Court (Durban) judge has ruled.
Fight over children, despite will
In an application concerning two small children whose parents have died, a tug-o-war has erupted between their elderly grandparents and their uncle as to who should take care of the children.
Parents ordered to pay private school fees
Parents of a private school pupil will have to cough up more than R400 000 after running up the debt over a number of years, having dishonoured their agreement to pay the school fees.
Limpopo father loses custody battle
A father who took his child from her mother without her consent, only for his parents to look after the child in another province, lost a leave to appeal bid at the SCA, where he tried to challenge a Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) ruling that refused to endorse that he has full custody of the child.
Agreement to blacklist child maintenance defaulters
With 70% of parents defaulting on child maintenance in the first two years of a court order, the Department of Justice and the Social Justice Foundation are going ahead with a plan to blacklist defaulters with credit bureaus.
Maintenance defaulter threatened with imprisonment
A Cape Town businessman who has been defaulting on maintenance for his three children could face 30 days in prison. The order was made by the Western Cape High Court after he moved out of the home he shared with the mother of his children in April 2022.
Judge denies HIV claim for foreiture of benefits
A husband asked the court to order that his wife forfeit all patrimonial benefits acquired during their 15-year marriage. He claimed her HIV-positive status indicated she had cheated on him and been promiscuous during their marriage, says a Saturday Star report.
Maintenance for child doesn't end at 18
A parent’s obligation to financially maintain their children does not stop once the child turns 18, but continues until the child is no longer financially dependent on the parent, the court remarked after a father claimed he no longer needed to pay maintenance towards his now over 18-year-old child.
Mother ordered to return children to father in Germany
A woman has refused to return to Germany with her two children, despite a court order. A Pretoria News report says the Central Authority of SA turned to the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) with the father – in terms of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction – for the children to be returned.
Judge strikes ‘scandalous’ rule 43 bid from roll
KZN High Court (Durban) Judge Robin Mossop has rebuked the lawyers of a divorcing woman who launched an application for interim maintenance and attached dozens of pictures to the application which included a picture of the husband’s lipstick- and semen-stained T-shirt.
