Appeal from the Maintenance Court to the High Court – Advocate Muhammad Abduroaf
[caption id="attachment_7078" align="alignleft" width="246"]
Advocate Muhammad Abduroaf – Advocate of the High Court of South Africa[/caption]ABC guide to applying for Child Support/Child Maintenance
Child Maintenance Guide: Written by Advocate Muhammad Abduroaf The procedures to be followed in instituting a complaint for child maintenance are regulated by the Maintenance Act 99 of 1998. Below is a simple “ABC” guide to get you started in claiming maintenance for yourself, your children or dependents. This I wrote in order to encourage people to claim needed maintenance for their children or for themselves. Remember, the Maintenance Court would be more than happy to assist you with whatever other legal queries you may have. Before I deal with the simple steps that should be followed in claiming maintenance, I shall first deal with the following question:Q: From whom may maintenance be claimed?
A: Maintenance may be claimed from persons who have a legal obligation to maintain you. For instance, children can claim maintenance from their parents or a wife from her husband and visa versa. Seeing that children are minors, they are assisted by their parent or guardian through the maintenance process, but in actual fact, it is the child who is claiming. For the purposes of the steps below, I shall structure it as if a parent or guardian is claiming maintenance on behalf of the child. 
Income and Expenses – Step 1 …
Get hold of all your proof of income. E.g. pay slips. If you are not working for an employer, you should get hold of proof that you earn a certain amount of money per month. If you are unemployed, that is in order. Get together a list of all monthly expenses incurred for yourself and your children. This would include rent, groceries, clothes, entertainment, etc. This information is required when filling in the maintenance application form that is dealt with in Step 2 below. Find out all the details of the person from whom you are requesting maintenance. For example, his/her home and work address and identity number.Visit the Maintenance Court – Step 2 …
Go to the Maintenance Court closes to your area and obtain an “Application for Maintenance Order Form” also referred to as “Form A”. Use the information you have gathered in Step 1 and fill in the form. The form is in the form of an affidavit and you, therefore, have to swear to the correctness of the information under oath and sign. Therefore, do not hide any information for the Court. Caution: If your information is not 100 % correct, you may be cross-examined on such correctness in Court and if it is found that you were not totally honest, this would not be in your favour. If you require any assistance in filling in the form, the maintenance officers would be happy to assist you. Once you have filled in the Application for Maintenance Order Form, return it to the maintenance officer who will process it for you. If the maintenance officer can provide you with a reference/case number there and then, request it. The Maintenance Court will send you and the person you are claiming maintenance from a letter or subpoena to appear at the Maintenance Court for an inquiry with the maintenance officer. Diarise the date immediately and make arrangements with your work and a babysitter as soon as possible. If you miss the date, it can take months to get another.Get your document in order – Step 3…
From the time you left the office of the maintenance officer and even from the time you decided to claim maintenance, keep all receipts you received for any items bought for you and your child. Therefore, if you buy nappies for your child or even a toy, keep that receipt as if it is gold. This is due to you having to prove to the court that you really do spend money on the child and you have the receipts to prove it. You will soon hear from the Maintenance Court where they will be giving you a date to appear back at the Maintenance Court for an inquiry. They would either inform you by post or by a subpoena. On that date, both you and the person from whom maintenance is claimed would have to appear. If you are planning on making use of a legal representative, inform him/her early about the date so that he/she can be available to assist you at Court. [video width="1920" height="1080" mp4="https://www.ourlawyer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/Child-Custody-Visitation-and-Contact.mp4"][/video] In the notice to appear for the maintenance enquiry, it is requested that you bring proof of all expenses and income for you and your child. This is why it is so very important for you to keep all proof of expenditure in a safe place. Hint: If you can afford to, bring original proof of expenditure and income and a photocopy thereof. The original you would then be able to take back home and bring it back when requested and the copy will stay in the Court file.The Maintenance Enquiry – Step 4 …
This step deals with the maintenance enquiry where you and the person from whom you are claiming maintenance from will appear before a maintenance officer. The maintenance officer will speak to each of the parties and look at the documents provided. Each party will get a chance to explain why he/she requires maintenance and also why he/she can’t afford the maintenance requested. The maintenance officer will as far as possible try to resolve the matter there and then without it having to go to court. If the parties can agree to an amount, this amount can be made an order of the court. If however an agreement cannot be reached at this stage, the matter, depending on the Court will either be referred to a prosecutor or for trial. Remember, if you are a father or a person currently paying maintenance/child support, a reduction is possible. The same goes for an application for an increase in maintenance/child supportSharing is Caring
This and other articles and posts found on this website are written by Adv. Muhammad Abduroaf to assist people with various family law related issues they may have. If you find any of our articles, free resources and posts interesting, or possibly useful to others, please share it on Social Media. Should you require any other legal services and advice, not related to family law, visit Private Legal. Purchase a Consultation with us from our Online Shop, by clicking here. [caption id="attachment_8258" align="alignleft" width="476"]
Child Custody Visitation and Contact[/caption]
Get your document in order – Step 3…Tricks and tips on how to win your child maintenance case
Connect with Adv. Abduroaf– Click here [caption id="attachment_7074" align="alignleft" width="269"]
Advocate Muhammad Abduroaf – Advocate of the High Court of South Africa[/caption] Child maintenance legal issues might sound simple, compare to, for example, a criminal case of fraud. However, a child maintenance case could be much more complicated, challenging and exhausting. That, however, does not have to be the case. At least not always. Find out some of the tips and tricks provided by Advocate Muhammad Abduroaf, a family law expert with more than a decade of experience in family law, and child maintenance matters. Read on to find out some tips and tricks of the trade. Valuable advice is given on what to do through the maintenance court process. Download your Child Maintenance Calculator, click here. [maxbutton id=”2″ ]Child Maintenance and Applications – How does it work?
The focus of this article is not to explain how child maintenance work, or how to apply for child maintenance. There are many articles written on that topic. But in short, parents must pay according to their means. So, if a child’s expense the month is R 60 (obviously this is a fictitious example) and the father earns R 500 a month and the mother R 250 a month, then if all else is equal, the father should contribute R 40 towards the minor child’s expenses, and the mother, R 20. Now that is the long and short of the matter. However, other factors also play a role. They include the necessary expenses of each parent, which determines how much they should contribute, as well as what assets the parents own. For example, if a father earns R 100 a month, and the mother R R800 – 00, the father would pay the majority of the minor child’s expenses if he owns other assets worth R 100 000 – 00 and the mother none. Purchase a Consultation with us from our Online Shop, by clicking here.What are the challenges in child maintenance cases for parents?
Now we deal with the challenges. The child costs R 60 per month, but the parent who is supposed to pay maintenance, the father, in this case, is only willing to pay R 10 per month. This is what he says he can only afford and what he believes the minor child needs. He says that if he pays more, the mother would use the money for herself. But the facts as in the example above, the father earns R 500 a month and the mother, R 250. Therefore, the father should pay R 40 and not R 10 as he offers. The challenge the mother now has is to prove that the father can afford to pay R 40 and not R 10 as he offers. The mother is worried, that should she go to the maintenance court for help, she would only get R 5 because that is what the father said he will pay should she go to court. What is our advice? Go to Court!The Maintenance Court – What do they do?
If a parent does not pay reasonable child maintenance, the maintenance court can enforce compliance. This they would do through the Maintenance Court enquiry process. Once a maintenance order is made, it becomes a criminal offense not to adhere to it. The court may even issue a warrant attaching property, or salary.The maintenance investigator at the Court
Each maintenance court has a maintenance investigator. What this investigator does is gather evidence in a maintenance court case. However, in practice, no one may tell you that there is a maintenance investigator who could assist you in your case. This could be because of the huge amount of maintenance cases that come through the doors of the court.How does the maintenance court make a decision?
Now, this is where it becomes challenging. The maintenance court can only make an order against a parent if there is evidence that he or she can afford the maintenance claimed, and obviously, the amount claimed is fair. The problem in practice is, the mother alleges that the father can afford the child maintenance, but she has no concrete evidence to back it up. The father is also not forthcoming, and only shows evidence that he cannot afford the amount claimed. The mother knows that he can afford the required amount due to his standard of living and what she experienced while they lived together.What tips are there for the mother in maintenance matters?
What follows is a list of things you can do, either yourself or through the maintenance court. However please note that the court won’t entertain your application for child maintenance should it be excessive. In other words, if you know the father cannot afford the amount claimed, or that you are intentionally claiming too much; then, in that case, you would be wasting your time. If you have a legal representative, you would be wasting money as well. Purchase a Consultation with us from our Online Shop, by clicking here.Maintenance Court Investigator
Insist that the maintenance court instruct the maintenance investigator to investigate the financial affairs of the other parent. This you should even more so insist on if the father does not even provide the court with a copy of his salary slip and outline of expenses.The father’s employer
Ask the maintenance court to issue a subpoena against the father’s employer for the salary advice of the father. Also, request details of the father’s pension interest the father may have.The father’s banking account
Obtain the father’s bank statements. Here you should ask the court to subpoena various banking institutions for bank statements of the father. Bank statements hold in them valuable information about the lifestyle of a person. You may find out that the father spends half his money on his cell phone or luxury clothing. You can use this information to show the court that the father can tighten his belt and spend more money on his child. What sometimes happens is, you may find additional income coming into the father’s banking account.Father’s Credit Profile
Have the maintenance court obtain a credit profile of the father. From the profile, valuable information can be obtained. For example, where he last applied for credit, employment and residential details. If the father says he does not have money, but he applied for credit to purchase a new car, clearly there is money.Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest etc.)
These days, many people publish their lives on social media. If the father, in this case, keeps loading pictures and posts of how he lives the good life; that information may be used to show the maintenance court that the father lives a life different than what he wants the court and you to believe. Many people also make use of LinkedIn accounts. On it, they provide updated employment details. This would be useful to show the court should the father say he is an admin clerk. but on LinkedIn tell the world he is a manager.Property Search in maintenance matters
What may be useful, is to do a property search on the father. Here you would find out what property that person owns. For example, the father may rent a house, but own a house in a different province where he obtains rent. That house he could have inherited.Other tips and tricks in child maintenance matters
Each case is different. What would work in one maintenance matter, won’t work in another. For example, if someone is self-employed, and only get paid with cash, the dynamics are different. There won’t be any bank statements or payslips. In such a case, you need to be creative. Maybe ask questions to clients of the father and find out what he does and charges. If you can obtain the names of people the father does business with; that would be very useful. You may provide that information to the maintenance court and the investigator could follow up on it. If the father sees that you are getting somewhere, he may decide to pay a fair amount.Final words in child maintenance matters
Your maintenance case is largely dependent on you proving that your child needs the requested amount. If you do not have proof, or cannot prove it, even if you show that the father can afford it, the court won’t order him to pay it. The court would only order him to pay what is fair and proved. Therefore, always ensure that you keep proof of your income and expenses up to date and ready to provide it to court. Download your Child Maintenance Calculator, click here.Have a family Law appointment with us
We have an online appointments system which enables you to save valuable time and cut straight to the chase. There is, therefore, no need for you to visit our offices (unless it is best for you to do so, or is your most preferred option).
You may set up telephonic or video consultations should you wish to do so. You can, therefore, stay in the office or on the couch in the comfort of your own home when dealing with us. We are therefore physical, online, set-up and ready to meet with you. Make your appointment online for a consultation today. If you find any of our articles, free resources and posts interesting, or possibly useful to others, please like and share it on Social Media by clicking on the icons below. Should you require any other legal services and advice, not related to family law, visit Private Legal. Or click here for the details of Cape Town Advocate, Muhammad Abduroaf. Purchase a Consultation with us from our Online Shop, by clicking here.
What are the challenges in child maintenance cases for parents?