Child & Spousal Maintenance

Maintenance can be awarded to either spouse in a divorce and of course to the spouse holding primary residence of the children, as per the Court order. It is important to distinguish between these two different types of maintenance:

• Child maintenance – It is critical to ensure that your child is well looked after, and the law dictates that this is the responsibility of both parties until the child becomes self-supporting. Each parent, dependent on their income, must contribute equally to the upbringing and well-being of their child. Firstly, the reasonable monthly need of the minor child has to be established, hereafter each parent is responsible to assist and make payment in relation to the child’s needs, in proportion to the parent’s net income. There are of course intricate rules which apply, and this is exactly where our expertise comes into play.
• Spousal maintenance – In South African law neither spouse is automatically entitled to maintenance support and in fact there is an encouragement from our law makers to become financially independent of each other as soon as possible. In addition, there are different types of spousal maintenance, for example “rehabilitative spousal maintenance”. This form of maintenance is for a set period in time, normally between 1 – 24 months after which the obligation to make payment ceases to exist. There are various factors taken into consideration when one is to establish a spousal maintenance need, we discuss these factors hereinbelow.