FREE DIY ONLINE TOOLS TO GET URGENT CONTACT TO YOUR CHILD DURING THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

The end of year holiday season is upon us. This is the time for families to come together and re-establish family bonds. It is also the time of year where many parents who are separated, or not living together, fight over aspects of contact to their children. Often times, a parent would be refused contact to his or her child for no good reason. This is not in the child’s best interests. We believe that children have a right to spend quality time with both his or her parents irrespective of what type of relationship the parents have amongst themselves. This way of thinking aids the minor child’s emotional and psychological development. With regard to how much quality time should a parent receive; this depends on the facts of the case. However, the deciding factor is what is in the child’s best interests. This is what we shall look at next.

The Child’s best interests – Holidays or not

All parents need to conduct themselves in a manner conducive to the child’s best interests. In other words, they need to put their personal issues aside with the other parent and focus on what is best for the child. What often happens, is that one parent tries to punish the other parent by making use of the child. Therefore, they would prefer to alienate a parent from their child and refuse him or her any contact during the holiday season and other times. Often time children are left with a grandparent, aunt or non-relative to care for them whilst the other parent is busy during the holiday season. The child is the one that loses out in the long run. His or her development would be prejudiced, which could lead to serious mental and psychological developmental issues in the future. A child required both parents to bring him or her into the world. And in the same manner, a child requires both parents to live a complete and meaningful life. Having said this, if you are being unreasonably refused contact to your child, and feel that it is not in the best interests of the child, read further, and find out what you can do.

What can you do if you are being refused contact to your child in the Holidays?

We don’t believe in resorting to litigation the moment a dispute regarding child care and contact arises. In other words, going to court at the first sign of trouble, or unreasonableness on the part of the other parent, is not always the best thing to do. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and may not result in the best solution for the parents and the child. Furthermore, you may have to expose the child to being assessed by third parties, which could lead to the child having to make certain choices regarding his or her parents.

Parenting Plans

Sometimes, other professional people should be approached for assistance. Here we are referring to mediators, social workers or psychologists. Parents can meet with these suitably qualified people and try to mediate a parenting plan. A parenting Plan is an agreement between parents outlining their parental responsibilities and rights of care, contact and maintenance in relation to their child. It may include other relevant aspects as well. As the law currently stands, unless it is a matter of urgency, before approaching a court, parents must first try to enter into a parenting plan. If trying to agree to a parenting plan does not get you anywhere, then some legal intervention is needed. This is where you want a court to look into what is in the child’s best interests. A lot has been written on the topic of urgent contact on this website. Here are a few links on the law regarding child contact and Court Applications.

How to win your child custody and access court case – Tips and Tricks

Free DIY online form

What follows is a form which you can complete online, where after you would receive and email with the basic information required to get you started with an urgent court Application for holiday contact. Of course, you need to insert all additional relevant information. Once you received the email, you are on your way in making your Application to Court. For the purposes of this tool, we presume that you reside in the Western Cape, and will make use of the Western Cape High Court for the Application. You also need to obtain the Free DIY Urgent Child Contact Toolkit for mothers and Fathers. This is dealt with next.

Free DIY Toolkit

Download the Free DIY Urgent Child Contact Toolkit for mothers and Fathers found on this website. This would greatly assist you as an extra tool. The toolkit relates to an Urgent Child Contact Application in the Western Cape High Court which would be of assistance in making an urgent application and completing the form below.

Free Online Child Contact Application Form

Kindly complete the online form below. Once you completed the form, and submitted it, you would obtain an email with a Draft Notice of Motion and Founding Affidavit. You can then use those documents, together with those documents received in the Free DIY Urgent Child Contact Toolkit for mothers and Fathers and prepare your Application. We advise that you consult with a legal Practitioner to assist you in the application should you decide to take it to Court. Best of luck. [ninja_form id=47] 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 like and share it on Social Media by clicking on the icons below. For more interesting articles and information on Family Law, view our articles and Q&A page. If you have a family law related legal issue and you want someone to answer or reply to it, feel free to post it on our Family Law Blog. Therefore, kindly like and share. Should you require any other legal services and advice, not related to family law, visit Private Legal.

Posted on 11 February 2025 by Telelaw

FREE DIY ONLINE TOOLS TO GET URGENT CONTACT TO YOUR CHILD DURING THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

We believe that children have a right to spend quality time with both his or her parents irrespective of what type of relationship the parents have amongst themselves. This way of thinking aids the minor child’s emotional and psychological development. With regard to how much quality time should a parent receive; this depends on the facts of the case. However, the deciding factor is what is in the child’s best interests. This is what we shall look at next.

The Child’s best interests – Holidays or not

Often time children are left with a grandparent, aunt or non-relative to care for them whilst the other parent is busy during the holiday season. The child is the one that loses out in the long run. His or her development would be prejudiced, which could lead to serious mental and psychological developmental issues in the future.

A child required both parents to bring him or her into the world. And in the same manner, a child requires both parents to live a complete and meaningful life. Having said this, if you are being unreasonably refused contact to your child, and feel that it is not in the best interests of the child, read further, and find out what you can do.

What can you do if you are being refused contact to your child in the Holidays?

Parenting Plans

If trying to agree to a parenting plan does not get you anywhere, then some legal intervention is needed. This is where you want a court to look into what is in the child’s best interests. A lot has been written on the topic of urgent contact on this website. Here are a few links on the law regarding child contact and Court Applications.

How to win your child custody and access court case – Tips and Tricks

Free DIY online form

Free DIY Toolkit

Free Online Child Contact Application Form

No Fields Found.

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 like and share it on Social Media by clicking on the icons below. For more interesting articles and information on Family Law, view our articles and Q&A page. If you have a family law related legal issue and you want someone to answer or reply to it, feel free to post it on our Family Law Blog. Therefore, kindly like and share.

Should you require any other legal services and advice, not related to family law, visit Private Legal.

How much child support should you claim or pay?
[caption id="attachment_7076" align="alignleft" width="230"] Advocate Muhammad Abduroaf – Advocate of the High Court of South Africa[/caption] It is not only mothers who want to know how much maintenance they should claim. Fathers are very much interested in wanting to know how much they should pay. It is my view that there is nothing wrong with a father wanting to know whether or not he is paying too much maintenance. This is so as it is both parent’s responsibilities to maintain a child according to their means. However, what I do have the issue with is when fathers try to avoid their maintenance obligations. Even if you are unemployed, you can still pay maintenance depending on your means. And then you have mothers who want to exploit the fathers. The same applies when the roles are reversed. This is when the father is the primary caregiver and the mother pays him child support. – Adv. Muhammad Abduroaf LL.B LL.M – Advocate of the High Court of South Africa. Purchase a Consultation with us from our Online Shop, by clicking here.

Common child maintenance questions

How much child support should I claim for my child?
How much child support should I pay for my children?
The father of my child is unemployed, should I still claim child support?

These are two questions which are posed to me regularly. But what is the answer? What follows are certain factors I use to determine the amount of child support my clients should claim or pay when dealing with a child support matter.

Factors to consider regarding child support amounts

There are many factors to consider when it comes to figures in child support matters. Some are common to most people. However, depending on the situation, they won’t be the same for everyone. Remember, the explanation below is provided for information purposes only. The formula I follow is as follows:

What are the reasonable monthly needs of the child? If you can place an amount to it, do so.
The monthly income and expenses of both parents. The assets of the parents should also be considered should they not have an income or be unemployed.
What can each parent reasonably contribute towards the monthly expenses of the child?

Want to know more about Rule 43 Applications in the High Court and Rule 58 Applications in the Magistrates’ Court? Click here.

Reasonable needs of a child – Basic Maintenance Question

The reasonable needs of a child include food, clothing, accommodation, medical expenses and so on. Depending on the standard of living of the parents, or what the child is accustomed to, as seen later, it could include extramural expenses, the upkeep of a pony, and piano lessons. Once you determined what the child’s needs are, and what the parents can afford, you can determine what each parent should contribute. This amount should factor in once off yearly expenses. For example, school fees, TV and Car licenses and membership fees and so on. Let me explain this by way of example. Purchase a Consultation with us from our Online Shop, by clicking here.

Income and expenses of child and parents

Child’s expense: R 1 000 – 00.
Custodian Parent’s income: R 10 000 – 00.
Custodian Parent’s monthly expenses: R 5 000 – 00.
Paying parent’s income: R 20 000 – 00.
Paying parent’s monthly expenses: R 10 000 – 00.

Considering the above example, the paying parent earns double that of the custodian parent. And his or her monthly expenses are proportionately the same as that of the has parent. Therefore, if all else being equal, his or her contribution should be double of that of the custodian parent. If the paying parent becomes unemployed, his maintenance obligations does nott come to an end. He may have other means. If he has a flashy car, he needs to downgrade and use some of that money for maintenance.

Final child maintenance amount:

The Paying parent would pay two thirds of the child’s expenses which equates to R 666 – 00 per month. And the custodian parent would thus cover the balance of R 334 – 00 per month. The R 666 – 00 would be less should he pay any of the minor child’s expenses directly. For example, medical aid or school fees.

The challenge regarding child maintenance amounts

The golden rule in all matters regarding children is that their best interest be upheld. However, in child maintenance matters it is not as easy as saying that the child needs to have the best of clothes, education, and food available. By taking this view, it would be as saying that during the parents’ marriage, or while the parents lived together, the child went to the best school in the area, wore the best of clothes and ate the best of food. This is so, notwithstanding the parents earning a far below average income. Such a legal approach would be nonsensical. Another challenge is when the paying parent is self-employed or unemployed. In the case of self-employed parents, their income varies. However, what we look at is the average they earn each month. For an unemployed parent, as stated, we look at their means.

Factors the Court considers in Child Maintenance Matters

Each child maintenance case is determined on its own merits by weighing various factors. There are certain overlapping factors. The factors to consider are:

The reasonable needs of the minor child;
The reasonable expenses of the parents;
The standard of living the child was accustomed to while the parties were married or living together (if applicable);
The earning capacity of the parents; and
The assets of the parents.

Therefore, it does not mean every 5-year-old child will require a child maintenance contribution of R 500 00 (five hundred rands). A contribution of R 500 – 00 for a specific 5-year-old child might be reasonable or even too high, depending on the circumstances. Let me provide you with two scenarios: Purchase a Consultation with us from our Online Shop, by clicking here.

Scenario A – Child Maintenance

A 5-year-old child’s parents each earns R 500 – 00 per month. They were bringing up the child perfectly under the circumstances with their modest standard of living which is the norm in the area they live in. Furthermore, this is the same standard the parents were accustomed to when they were raised by their parents. If they are to estimate the costs of the child, it would be about R 200 – 00 per month which goes to food, shelter, clothes etc. Should the parents separate or divorce, and, let’s say in this case, the mother claims maintenance from the father for child support, she would not have a case for more than R 150 – 00 per month. You might wonder why I don’t say R 100 – 00 per month seeing that the parents earned the same salary? The mother in this scenario had to find alternative accommodation, and therefore the child would require more maintenance (it could even be less).

Scenario B – Child Maintenance

Let’s say the parents of a 5-year-old child each earns R 50 000 – 00 per month. The child has an au pair, own room, policies in his or her favour, expensive clothes, medical aid, expensive creams, attends ballet and violin classes etc. The monthly costs of this child are about R 25 000 – 00 per month. Should the parents separate, a claim for maintenance could easily be in the region of R 15 000 – 00. R 14 850 – 00 more than the 5-year-old child in the previous scenario above. The amount to pay therefore all depends on the facts, circumstances etc. To make things more complicated, if the mother in this scenario have assets worth millions and the father only owns a car of R 100 000 – 00, his contribution could be far less than R 15 000 – 00, even if they have the same monthly salary. It is even possible that his contribution could be R 150 – 00 (and not R 15 000 – 00) as in the case of scenario A above. All these factors have to be discussed with your maintenance lawyer or advocate. I hope this gave you a feel for how child support or child maintenance is calculated. Therefore, in answering the questions posed above, i.e. How much child support should you claim for your child, and how much child maintenance should you pay; the answer is, it depends on the facts.

Other maintenance calculation views

You or your attorney or advocate might have one view on what the amount should be, however the other parent or the maintenance court might have a totally different view. I therefore strongly advise that you first consult with a maintenance lawyer or advocate, or the maintenance court before submitting your amount to the court. In complicated cases, an advocate may be approached by your attorney for an opinion. Sharing 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 and posts interesting, or possibly useful to others, please link and share it on Social media.

Should you require any other legal services and advice, not related to family law, visit Private Legal or Business SA.

Posted on 11 February 2025 by Telelaw

DIY Divorce in Cape Town, Western Cape

Complete the free online divorce form below to assist you with your unopposed divorce. View the following related pages: Free DIY Online Divorce Guide and Form A divorce guide in PDF format A Sample Summons in Word format A Particulars of Claim in Word Format A notice of Set Down in Word Format

COMBINED SUMMONS

IN THE HIGH COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA (WESTERN CAPE DIVISION, CAPE TOWN) Case no.: JOHN WILLIAMS (PLAINTIFF) (Identity Number: 0000000000000) And JANE WILLIAMS (DEFENDANT) (Identity Number: 1111111111111) __________________________________ TO THE SHERIFF/HIS DEPUTY: INFORM JANE WILLIAMS an adult male/female, residing at 1 Apple Street, Apple Town, Western Cape Province (hereinafter referred to as the Defendant); that JOHN WILLIAMS an adult male/female, residing at 4 Green Street, Greenland, WESTERN CAPE, (hereinafter referred to as the Plaintiff), hereby institutes action against him/her in which action the Plaintiff claims the relief on the grounds set out in the particulars of claim annexed hereto; INFORM the Defendant further that if he / she disputes the claim and wishes to defend the action he/she shall:- (a) within 10 (TEN) days of the service upon him/her of this summons file with the Registrar of this Court at Keerom Street, Cape Town a notice of his/her intention to defend and serve a copy thereof on the Plaintiff’s Attorneys, which notice shall give an address referred to in rule 19(3) for the service upon the Defendant of all notices and pleadings in the action; (b) thereafter and within 20 (TWENTY) Court days after filing and serving the notice of intention to defend as aforesaid, file with the Registrar and serve upon the Plaintiff’s Attorneys a plea or exception with or without a claim in reconvention; INFORM the Defendant further that if he/she fails to file and serve notice as aforesaid judgment as claimed may be given against him/her without further notice to him/her or if, having filed and served such notice, he/she fails to plead, except, or to counterclaim, judgment may be given against him/her; INFORM the Defendant also that if he/she does not intend to defend the action, he/she may give written notice to that effect to the Plaintiff’s Attorneys and the Registrar and the action may then, at the written request of the Plaintiff’s Attorneys, be forthwith set down by the Registrar for hearing; And immediately thereafter serve on the Defendant a copy of this Summons and return the same to the Registrar with whatever you have done thereupon. DATED AT CAPE TOWN THIS DAY OF 2017. ……………………………………………………………… REGISTRAR OF THE HIGH COURT ______________________ ______________________ Per: JOHN WILLIAMS (Plaintiff in Person) 4 Green Street, Greenland, WESTERN CAPE ______________________o0o____________________

Fee Online Divorce Form and Guide

If you want to attend to your own uncontested divorce, we can to help you at no charge. Fill in the form below, and then our system will send you an email with the details you provided, which you should include in the divorce documents. [ninja_form id=35]

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

Looking for Family Legal Services in Lower Vrede- Child Maintenance, Child Custody, Visitation Rights and Divorce

Here at our law officers, we understand the struggle of your anxious search for family legal services. Most often, you under the impression that you may not find the legal services you require within close proximity. Look no further.

Family Legal Advice Consultancy

We are a family legal consultancy that strive to cater for all your legal needs by offering legal advice and guidance in family law. If you happen to be residing in the Lower Vredearea, then legal advice is still in your favor. Searching for a legal solution is tough enough and we are fully aware of this. With this in mind, we have made our legal advice and legal guidance easily accessible for your convenience. Our online system enables you to make an online appointment for a professional legal consultation within minutes, while in the comfort of your own home.

Price listings for Family Legal Services in University Estate

We have managed to compile a straightforward price list of some of our legal services in which we offer legal advice and legal guidance in. With that being said, we often have potential clients asking us for an overall view of what the service will cost. When it comes to child maintenance, child custody, contested/opposed divorces and so on; then an overview of the cost cannot be provided as this will be depend upon nature and circumstance of the legal matter. See our legal services page for an idea of what some of our legal services will cost.

Legal Advice in Lower Vrede – Family law legal topics

For family law legal topics, we offer legal advice on a variety of family law topics, which include, but is not limited to:

And while our consultation does come at a fee of R800; we have made our free, expert legal advice articles on our website, easily accessible for the layperson. See the following free, expert legal advice articles which was carefully crafted by the legal expert himself. These articles can be found within the following categories:

Child Maintenance

Child Custody

Divorce and Property

So whether you’re residing in the Northern or Southern suburbs, we can assist you in your legal plight. Call our law offices on 021 424 3487, and have our friendly receptionist make an online appointment for you for a face to face, telephonic or Video Chat/Skype legal consultation.

Legal consultation – telephonic, face to face or via video chat / Skype legal advice for those residing in Lower Vrede

Are you residing in Lower Vrede and concerned that legal advice and legal guidance may be out of your way? This could never be more far off from the truth. Our professional legal consultancy have taken such circumstances into account and have managed to accommodate for those residing in the Lower Vrede area. Our professional legal consultation can take place by virtue of video chat / Skype, email or telephonic for your convenience. We are currently based at Suit 702, 7^th Floor, The Pinnacle (on the corner of Burg and Strand Street). Do you require an Attorney to handle your legal matter? No problem. Our law offices have built a wealth of legal connections to ease your plight. After assessing your legal matter during the consultation, we can refer you to an Attorney if necessary. However, we have managed to sustain a convenient online operation which will unfold within the following ways:

Call our friendly receptionist and ask to have an appointment made for you online which will only take a minute or two.
You have the choice of deciding whether you would like a telephonic, email, video chat/Skype legal consultation.
Once you call our law offices on 021 424 3487, the receptionist will make an appointment online for you. Thereafter, you will receive an automated email which will contain all relevant details about the legal consultation. The date, time, nature of legal matter and payments methods will be highlighted within the email.
We urge potential clients to read their email well as well as the terms and conditions within the email.
Only once payment has been made, will the face to face legal consultation be confirmed.
Bear in mind that the date and time of the legal consultation is subject to change on either our part or the potential client’s part. Hence the potential client is free to change the date and time should they later find a more convenient date or time.

Call our law offices on 021 424 3487, and have our friendly receptionist make an online appointment for you for a face to face, telephonic or Video Chat/Skype legal consultation.

Free legal products if you live in Lower Vrede

Our law offices does not offer pro bono legal services as we are a Family Legal Consultancy that aims at offering expert, efficient legal advice and assistance on child maintenance, divorce, child custody and so forth. We have however, as mentioned previously, made our free, expert legal advice accessible to the layperson on our website. The creators of this website have compiled a “Free Family Law Resources” section, which can be found on our home page. The family law resources are as follows:

You can now enjoy free, expert legal advice at the touch of a button. Call our law offices on 021 424 3487, and have our friendly receptionist make an online appointment for you for a face to face, telephonic or Video Chat/Skype legal consultation. Connect with us today!