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Changing your Matrimonial Property Regime Questions and Answers
We introduced this Changing your Matrimonial Property Regime Questions and Answers page for you to post questions you may have on the topic. For example, if you want to know whether you should change your matrimonial property regime, pose a question with some background facts. At the same time, should you be able to assist others who posted questions below, requiring some advice on Changing your Matrimonial Property Regime, please proceed and reply to their comments. In that manner, we would all be able to assist each other and increase our online knowledge base. Therefore, although we a are legal consultancy, specialising in family law, you may have problems or experiences that we have not encountered. Let us share in our knowledge of Changing your Matrimonial Property Regime.
Other family law resources on this website
There are various other family law resources on this website that you may find useful. For example, there is a downloadable child maintenance calculator. The resources may assist you with whatever questions you have, or information you require on Changing your Matrimonial Property Regime. Therefore, after posting your question, or any time after, have a look at the useful resources and information on our website. Some of these resources are listed hereafter.Articles and Q&A
There are a range of legal articles on this website dealing with various family law issues. Some of these articles are straight forward, outlining the legal position on a family law related topic. For example, how to apply for child maintenance, or how to get divorced. Other articles are written in the form of answering a specific legal question. For example, do I pay maintenance if I am unemployed, or what do I do if I want to leave the country with my child, and the other parent does not want to provide consent? Those articles are in blog format. This means that you are welcome to comment or pose questions to increase our knowledge base. The clear idea behind our website is that we want to make family law legal information more accessible and available to the public.Downloadable resources
We created some downloadable resources for free on this website. They are: 1 Free Basic Will Tool Kit 2. Free Shariah Will Template 3. Free Divorce Starter Tool Kit 4. Free Child Maintenance Calculator Feel free to download these useful resources. Click on the links above, and complete the online purchase process. The purchase price is R 0. Thereafter, a downloadable link would be emailed to you. Once you received the email, download it as soon as possible as the link would expire after two months. We hope that we assisted you with any queries you had on Changing your Matrimonial Property Regime. If not, feel free to arrange a consultation with us.Sharing is Caring
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What are the legal implications of a step-parent adopting a child in South Africa? Is it possible and what are the rights of the biological parents?
It often happens that a couple marries and there are step-children involved. A spouse would therefore have a child from a previous relationship. The previous relationship could either have been a marriage or just a romantic experience. Sometimes, the step-parent would want to adopt the child, affording him or her legal rights and responsibilities over the child. This is the case, even if the other parent is still alive and in the picture. It may happen that a parent is not much involved in a child’s life and would not mind that the other parent who cares for the child have his or her spouse adopt the child. By doing so, the child would have the step-parent’s surname. The responsibility towards the child would now also fall on the step-parent. Whatever the reason, this article deals with the legal aspects. As you would see further below, an adoption order has the following effect: (a) confers full parental responsibilities and rights in respect of the adopted child upon the adoptive parent; (b) confers the surname of the adoptive parent on the adopted child, except when otherwise provided in the order; (c) does not permit any marriage or sexual intercourse between the child and any other person which would have been prohibited had the child not been adopted; and (d) does not affect any rights to property the child acquired before the adoption. (3) An adopted child must for all purposes be regarded as the child of the adoptive parent and an adoptive parent must for all purposes be regarded as the parent of the adopted child. The law dealing with adoptions is the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 (the Act). Chapter 15 of the Act which deals with it is quite extensive. It starts at section 228 and ends at section 253. We will first deal with the issue as which child may be adopted. For a full view of the Act and the relevant sections, click here. Child who may be adopted 230.(1) Any child may be adopted if- (a) the adoption is in the best interests of the child; (b) the child is adoptable; and (c) the provisions of this Chapter are complied with. (2) An adoption social worker must make an assessment to determine whether a child (3) A child is adoptable if – (a) the child is an orphan and has no guardian or caregiver who is willing to adopt the child; (b) the whereabouts of the child’s parent or guardian cannot be established; (c) the child has been abandoned; (d) the child’s parent or guardian has abused or deliberately neglected the child, or has allowed the child to be abused or deliberately neglected; or (e) the child is in need of a permanent alternative placement. Next, we deal with who may adopt a child. Persons who may adopt child 231.(1) A child may be adopted- (a) jointly by- (i) a husband and wife; (ii) partners in a permanent domestic life-partnership; or (iii) other persons sharing a common household and forming a permanent family unit; (b) by a widower, widow, divorced or unmarried person; (c) by a married person whose spouse is the parent of the child or by a person whose permanent domestic life-partner is the parent of the child; (4 by the biological father of a child born out of wedlock; or (e) by the foster parent of the child. Lastly, should all go well, the court would make an adoption order. The next section of the Act deals with the effect of the adoption order. Effect of adoption order 242.(1) Except when provided otherwise in the order or in a post-adoption agreement confirmed by the court an adoption order terminates – (a) all parental responsibilities and rights any person, including a parent, step-parent or partner in a domestic life partnership, had in respect of the child immediately before the adoption; (b) all claims to contact with the child by any family member of a person referred to in paragraph (a); (c) all rights and responsibilities the child had in respect of a person referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) immediately before the adoption; and (d) any previous order made in respect of the placement of the child. (2) An adoption order – (a) confers full parental responsibilities and rights in respect of the adopted child upon the adoptive parent; (b) confers the surname of the adoptive parent on the adopted child, except when otherwise provided in the order; (c) does not permit any marriage or sexual intercourse between the child and any other person which would have been prohibited had the child not been adopted; and (d) does not affect any rights to property the child acquired before the adoption. (3) An adopted child must for all purposes be regarded as the child of the adoptive parent and an adoptive parent must for all purposes be regarded as the parent of the adopted child.What are the rights of step-parents and his or her spouse after the step-parent adopted the child?
Once a child has been adopted by a step-parent, the court can order that both the step-parent and spouse (other biological parent) are the holders of parental responsibilities and rights. This issue was dealt with in the case of Centre for Child Law v Minister of Social Development (21122/13) [2013] ZAGPPHC 305; 2014 (1) SA 468 (GNP) (30 October 2013). The court stated the following: [14] The advice allegedly given by officials of the Children’s Court to prospective applicants for adoption that, in terms of s. 242 of the Act, the granting of an application for adoption by a step-parent will automatically terminate all rights and responsibilities of the parent in respect of the child, ignores the exception provided for in the preamble of s. 242. In terms thereof, an adoption order terminates those rights “except when provided otherwise in the order…………… The Children’s Court therefore has a discretion to order that the rights and responsibilities of a child’s parent or guardian will not terminate upon the grant of an adoption order in favour of the step-parent. It will, save in exceptional circumstances, clearly be in the best interests of the child that such an order be made. The Children’s Court is obliged to function in a manner which in each case promotes the best interests of the child and should, except where there are sound reasons not to do so, make an order that the granting of an adoption order in favour of a step-parent will not terminate the responsibilities and rights of the child’s parent or other guardian. In this case, the court made the following order: [17] In the result, I grant the following order: 1.It is declared that section 230(3) of the Children’s Act, 38 of 2005, does not preclude a child from being adoptable in instances where the child has a guardian and the person seeking to adopt the child is the spouse or permanent domestic life-partner of that guardian. 2.It is declared that section 242 of the Children’s Act, 38 of 2005, does not automatically terminate all the parental responsibilities and rights of the guardian of a child when an adoption order is granted in favour of the spouse or permanent domestic life-partner of that guardian, having regard to the discretion which section 242 affords the court to order otherwise. 3… What are the rights of the step-parent and the biological parent’s post-adoption?
Once the step-parent adopts the child, he or she has full parental responsibilities and rights as outlined above., The court can also order that you retain your parental responsibilities and rights over your child. At the same time, unless there is a post-adoption agreement stating otherwise, the other parent loses all his or her rights over the child.
Posted on by Telelaw