Best advice on finding a top divorce lawyer for your case in Cape Town

Do you live in Cape Town, and are you considering divorcing your spouse? Or have you been threatened with divorce? Either way, a divorce is a legal matter, and it is best to find sound legal advice or assistance. Furthermore, divorcing someone has potential severe legal consequences you may not know of. The first consequence, of course, is that you are no longer married to your former spouse, and there is no legal obligation to maintain each other (unless you qualify for alimony). You may also not inherit from your former spouse’s intestate. Lastly, and obviously, you are free to marry someone else.

However, do you know of the proprietary (property) consequences of getting a divorce? What about the assets and debt you and your spouse incurred in Cape Town or elsewhere during your marriage? Do you know what should happen to it? If not, it is best you find out about these critical aspects and others before getting divorced.

Then there is the issue of parental responsibilities and rights after the divorce should there be minor children involved. This article aims to provide guidance on finding the best attorney or advocate for your divorce matter that can adequately and properly advise you or handle your divorce. The advice would apply whether you live in Cape Town or anywhere else in South Africa. The issues we shall deal with are the following.

Gender of the Advocate or attorney;
Location of the Advocate or attorney;
Experience of the Advocate or attorney;
Costs of the Advocate or Attorney; and
The personality of the Advocate or Attorney.

What is the best gender of the Advocate or Attorney I need to use for my divorce? Is a male or female better?

Generally, the gender of your Advocate or Attorney should not play a role at all in a legal matter. However, depending on your background and the issues involved in your divorce, you may prefer a specific gender where you may feel more comfortable. A female who has been emotionally, physically and psychologically abused may be more comfortable with a female Attorney or Advocate. However, the same female client may prefer a male Advocate or Attorney. No more will be said on this issue.

What is the ideal office location of the Advocate or attorney? Does it have to be in Cape Town?

The location or office of your attorney or Advocate is essential if you wish to consult with them in person. It is also ideal, but not necessary, for their offices to be close to the Court where the divorce would be handled. However, many lawyers make use of correspondent lawyers for this purpose. Furthermore, location should not be an issue if you want a specific lawyer to handle your case. This is so especially seeing that people are making use of virtual meetings.

What level of experience should the Advocate or attorney have?

It is important to remember that not all legal matters require the best lawyer. If your divorce is straightforward, finding the best lawyer in the field is unnecessary. The best may be very busy and lack the time to give your case the attention it deserves. However, if your matter is complicated, then in that case, the most experienced and best lawyer out there is not warranted.

What about the Costs of an Attorney or Advocate?

For many, the costs of the Attorney or Advocate are the most crucial consideration when it comes to enlisting their services. Usually, the more experienced the Attorney or Advocate, the more they would charge. Another aspect that affects costs is the nature of the expertise of the Advocate or Attorney. If the issues in your matter are highly technical and complicated, an Advocate or Attorney with expertise and experience may charge more.

What about the personality of the Advocate or Attorney?

Many may discard the Advocate or Attorney’s personality as not important. However, it is essential to note that it may be time to change lawyers if you do not get along well with the Advocate or Attorney because of their personality. A lawyer and their client would develop a professional relationship in family law matters. This is especially so when the lawyer must discuss many personal issues regarding you, your marriage, children, finance, spouse etc. If you cannot get along well with your Attorney or Advocate, you may not divulge important information relevant to your case.

What is our best advice to a client looking for an Advocate or Attorney in a divorce matter?

Considering all the factors mentioned above, before enlisting the services of an Advocate or Attorney, ensure you enlist the right one. Do not look for the most experience or best, or the top one in family law. You may have to change lawyers if you do so and cannot afford legal bills. Therefore consider the above and any other factors that you may consider necessary when deciding on enlisting the services of an Advocate or an Attorney. Best of luck.

Posted on 11 February 2025 by Telelaw

Best advice on finding a top divorce lawyer for your case in Cape Town

Gender of the Advocate or attorney;
Location of the Advocate or attorney;
Experience of the Advocate or attorney;
Costs of the Advocate or Attorney; and
The personality of the Advocate or Attorney.

What is the best gender of the Advocate or Attorney I need to use for my divorce? Is a male or female better?

What is the ideal office location of the Advocate or attorney? Does it have to be in Cape Town?

What level of experience should the Advocate or attorney have?

What about the Costs of an Attorney or Advocate?

What about the personality of the Advocate or Attorney?

What is our best advice to a client looking for an Advocate or Attorney in a divorce matter?

Parental consent for a minor child’s enrolment into a school – What can you do if co-guardianship consent is refused?
Children have a right to a decent education—one which would benefit them in life. Every caring parent wants to give their child the best education possible according to their specific circumstances and station in life. Not all parents earn the same amount of money or have access the best type of education. However, most parents will do their best, which the law and society expect of all parents. In doing so, they ensure that their child has the best opportunities in life.
Parents co-operating in educating their minor children
It is vitally important for parents to co-operate when it comes to their minor child’s education. This relates to the enrollment into a school, the paying of school fees, transportation, parent involvement, homework, etc. If one parent does not wish to be involved in the child’s education, they should not hinder or obstruct the other parent from attending to the minor child’s education. For example, if the primary caregiver wants to enrol the minor child into a school, the other parent should co-operate in signing the necessary documents etc. It would be gravely unfortunate if a child’s right to a reasonable education is being prejudiced because the uninterested parent does not want to co-operate.

Parents not agreeing on the school the minor child should attend

Having dealt with the critical aspect of a minor child receiving a decent education and them co-operating; parents sometimes have conflicting views on what type of education is in the minor child’s best interests. Disputes may arise as to what school the minor child should attend or the subjects they should do. Parents being unable to agree on the essential aspects of the minor child’s education can cause severe problems for the minor child’s future. The law does not expect parents to agree on all aspects of the minor child’s education. However, the disagreement should not compromise the minor child’s education. If there is an impasse, a parent must give in. The law, therefore, expects parents to agree on those important issues regarding the minor child’s education and work together on making the minor child’s educational journey as smooth as possible.

Where do most educational disputes stem from?

Most parental disputes regarding a minor child’s education arise when the parents are separated or not living together. Here the reference is made to divorced parents or parents who were in a relationship and now separated. This is unfortunate as the minor child already has to deal with having parents living in separate homes and sharing time with each parent. It is not the minor child’s fault that his or her parents are not together or have issues. An issue may be where one parent prefers a school closer to their home and the other closer to their work. Or a parent prefers the minor child to attend a school which historically excelled in sport or academia.

Issue of affordability of education

Other considerations are that of affordability or the cost of education. One parent may not be able to afford the school fees of the current or new school. These are challenges that are not easy to resolve. When it comes to money issues, it is difficult to find solutions without looking into the parents’ pocket. This also comes with its own challenges. This is so as you would have to firstly deal with the issue of what is a better school for the minor child, and then the issue of affordability, location and so on. It is easy to determine which school is in theory better than the other by ticking off boxes. However, if school fees would not be paid, the exercise may be futile, when dealing with schools outside the affordability bracket of the parents.

When does the issue of a change in schooling arise?

Most of the minor child’s educational disputes between the parents comes to play when the child has to enrol into a new school. Usually in grade R or grade 7. If the child is attending a school, parents would usually not bring up any issues until those grades have been completed (or are soon to be completed). As a primary care giver of your child, you would want to ensure that your child has a school ready to attend the following year. You would also want to ensure that the school is an ideal school, considering the fees, location, subjects they offer and so on. If you leave this issue of application and enrolment into schools too late, you may end up having to enrol your child into as school far from your home or work. It may happen that the school your child ultimately attends do not have the curriculum you want for your child.

Parental consent for enrolment into a new school

Schools require both guardians of a minor child to enrol them into a school. This is especially so if the father’s name is on the birth certificate. If the parents are separated, and either parent is uncooperative, the child may not get accepted into a school timeously or into the best-suited school for him or her. If parents have their own personal issues between the two of them, then the situation becomes worse. One parent may try to use his or her right to consent as leverage for something else. For example, he or she will only consent if her or she does not have to pay any school fees.

What do you do if parental consent is not provided?

If there is a dispute regarding the school your child should attend, and it cannot be resolved between the parents; we suggest you try to mediate the issue with an experienced mediator or family counsellor. If that does not happen because the other parent does not want to partake, or the outcome is unsatisfactory to you, then you would have to approach the Court for assistance in resolving the matter. This is unfortunate as the child is the one who would suffer as he or she would be attending the school. The Court can make an order that only one parent’s consent is required for the enrolment of the minor child into a school.

What does the Court look at when deciding on parental consent?

As always, the court always looks at what is in the minor child’s best interest when it comes to issues surrounding him or her. Therefore, when it comes to parental consent issues in relation to education, the court would have to decide what is best for the minor child. Is it best that the minor child attend school A, or School B.? Before the court so decides, it would firstly hear from both parents. It may even ask the Office of the Family Advocate to first investigate and give their recommendations.

Court overriding the parents rights

If the court orders that School B would be best, then it would order that the parent who does not support School B should provide his or her consent, failing which, his or her consent is dispensed with. This process can take very long and can become very expensive. It would have been best if the parents used their money towards the minor child’s education. At the end of the day, litigation does not serve the minor child in the long run, especially when it comes to his or her education.

Posted on 11 February 2025 by Telelaw