When getting divorced, always consider: Child Maintenance, Child Custody, Parenting Plans, Assets and your Legal Options
1. Divorce – your legal options
Our law offices have a number of legal options that can be well explained for you by the legal expert. Divorce can be a costly affair, leaving a burning hole in your pocket. However, with the right legal expert on board, this needn’t be the case.
The creators of this website had made free, expert legal advice easily accessible for your convenience. For more on your legal options and ideas for your divorce, see the following links:
- How to Change your Matrimonial Property Regime
- Do your own Unopposed Divorce. No lawyers needed and its Free.
- Parental Rights of Divorced Muslim parents after a Talaq or Faskh
- Free Online Divorce Assistance Form – DIY Cape Town South Africa
comprising of:
The free divorce starter toolkit provides you with the necessary tools to attend to the unopposed divorce on your own. The tools include a template Summons, Particulars of Claim and a Notice of Set-Down.
Should you wish to have a one on one legal consultation with legal expert himself, then do feel free to call our law offices on 021 424 3486 for an online appointment today.
Are you unable to take off from work to personally come and see us? No problem.
We cater for telephonic consultations as well, whereby you could consult with us in the comfort of your own home. This applies to those residing out of the Western Cape as well.
For some free helpful, online divorce tools, visit our Free DIY Online Tools to get Divorced.
Call our law offices on 021 424 3486 for an online appointment today.
2. Assets and Divorce
We often find that two people who wish to get divorce sometimes fail to understand how their assets are divided in a divorce. At this point, the most important part is ensuring that you get what you deserve in your divorce.
This phenomenon can be stressful on the partner who is the bigger income earner – or particularly the partner that owns shares and property. Most of the time, he/she wants to know if their spous can claim accrual in the event of a divorce.
Our legal expert therefore urges you to have an Anti – Nuptial Contract (ANC) in place which can protect your assets in the case of a divorce.
3. Having a parenting plan in place
A parenting plan is an agreement between the two parents in which both parents found a common ground with regards to visitation rights with their children. The agreement should however, reflect the child’s best interest.
As for drafting your parenting plan, we able to tailor your parenting plan according to the unique circumstances in a manner that will benefit both. The aim when drafting a parenting plan is to ensure that the children gets maximum benefit from both parents so that they don’t feel lost in the process of a divorce.
Lets face it, divorce is as hard as it is and even more so, when children are involved. The last thing you’d want is have them suffering in the process.
For more on child custody, divorce, child maintenance and professional legal drafting, call our law offices on 021 424 3487 for an online appointment today.
Do feel free to visit our Parenting Plans Questions and Answers page for your convenience.
Call our law offices on 021 424 3486 for an online appointment today.
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4. Child Maintenance
A divorce is always tough. However, a divorce involving children becomes even tougher due to the myriad of factors involved which opens a whole new can of worms for other legal issues. Child Maintenance and Child Custody can complicate and drag the whole process, unfortunately.
Do not despair. In the How to Apply for Child Maintenance at Court – Step by Step Guide and Advice, our legal expert explains this process in an accurate, detailed manner:
How to Apply for Child Maintenance at Court – Step by Step Guide and Advice
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 from, e.g. his/her home and work address and identity number.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 support
Download the Free Child Maintenance Calculator and start the process regarding child Maintenance today. You would be guided on the law and how much maintenance may be claimed. For more free expert, legal advice on Child Maintenance, click on the following links below:
- Child Maintenance Question. How much should I pay or contribute as a parent?
- Child Support or maintenance claims. Does an unemployed father pay?
- Non-compliance with Maintenance Orders — Civil and Criminal Remedies
- Tricks and tips on how to win your child maintenance case
Do you wish to consult with us telephonically or face to face? Feel free to make an online appointment via our website, or call our law offices on 021 424 3487 for an online appointment today.
5. Child Custody
We have fathers coming to visit our law offices on a regular basis – asking us: What do we do from here? How do I obtain visitation rights? Am I entitled to child custody?
These are the common concerns our single fathers face and therefore, we have put together well thought out, free expert advice articles that can help you put things into perspective. Simply click on the links below:
- Child custody visitation access- questions and answers
- Child custody frequently asked questions
- Father refused contact to his child. What are his rights?
- Father’s parental responsibilities and rights to his child.
- How do I get full custody over my child?
- Parental child abuse in custody cases- Cape Town
- What does it mean when you have primary residential custody?
- What happens in a case custody dispute when one parent is mentally ill?
For a one on one professional legal consultation with the family legal expert, call our law offices for an online legal appointment today!
For additional expert, legal advice information that can be helpful with your divorce, click on the following links below:
- How to Change your Matrimonial Property Regime
- Do your own Unopposed Divorce. No lawyers needed and its Free.
- Parental Rights of Divorced Muslim parents after a Talaq or Faskh
- Free Online Divorce Assistance Form – DIY Cape Town South Africa comprising of:
- Divorce guide
For a one on one professional legal consultation with the family legal expert, call our law offices for an online legal appointment today!