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FAMILY LAW
- WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT FAMILY -
Maintenance & Access to Children
Although these items seem to go hand in hand, maintenance and access to children are actually far from each other. Each has its own requirements in terms of the law and yes, the one can exist without the other.
However maintenance is usually referred to be applicable to children, spousal maintenance is also available
Parenting Plans
What about parents who were never married and ended the relationship by “breaking up”? Or, what if these parents just want some stability in terms of how they agree to raise their child.
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A parenting plan is an agreement between parents on how they intend to parent their children. As in a settlement in a decree of divorce, parents come to an agreement on how much each party will contribute to the upbringing of the child and when the child will spend time with each respective party. Such a plan gets made an order of the court and provides security not only for the parents but also for the child's upbringing as to what they can expect from the other party. Therefore no surprises!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
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I have a maintenance order, how do I enforce it?
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A maintenance order is an order of court and any breach thereof is seen as contempt of court, which is a criminal offence. The easiest way to enforce this order is to approach the maintenance court clerk, fill in the nescessary forms provided and let them do their job. Alternatively, you can approach an attorney who is competent in maintenance matters, to assist you.​
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We were not married but have a child together. Do I really need a parenting plan?
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The short answer is no but it would be a good idea to have the exact agreement on how to maintain, visit and raise the child, set out and kept in a document rather than a vague memory which has the tendency to later develop into bitter disputes between parents. This document can be made an order of court which will provide a tangible consequence to any breach thereof.​
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The father of the child does not have an income and therefore can't contribute to maintaining the child. What can be done?
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In short, if the father can't meet the child's needs for maintenance, the maintenance court can be approached for an order against the paternal parents of the child's father, so that they would be responsible to assist in maintaining the child.​​
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Who is the family advocate and what do they do?
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The family advocate is not a "private lawyer". They are employed by the State to act as a third party where decisions concerning children need to be made. A parenting plan would therefore be assessed by the family advocate to consider whether the agreement reached in the parenting plan is in the best interests of the child and therefore that a court order in terms thereof, would be in the child's best interest.​
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