In terms of Section 9 of the Divorce Act, the court has the discretion when granting a divorce on the grounds of the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage or civil union, to order that the patrimonial (financial) benefits of the marriage be forfeited by one party in favour of the other. The court will only grant such an order if …
Infidelity in Marriage
In this day and age it is extremely common to hear stories of cheating husbands and wives either through social networking sites such as Facebook or through work relationships. If you are a victim of a cheating spouse who you have discovered has been unfaithful during your marriage relationship, you need to consider the following before making a decision as …
Employer protection retainer – All you need to know
What is it? The employer protection retainer is an option provided by SDF Attorneys available to employers who require specialist labour law advice and guidance when dealing with employees to ensure that their interests and those of the company are always protected. When can it be used? An employer can ask for advice and guidance regarding any aspect of employment and …
Your right as a father of a child born out of wedlock
The law in South Africa used to heavily favour mothers of minor children born out of wedlock in regard to care and contact (now known as primary residency and access) of the child or children. The father was always put at a disadvantage by the law and ultimately by the courts when the primary residency parent of a child was …
Drunk driving – What to expect if you are caught
Nowadays it is inevitable that every South African will be stopped in a roadblock at some point in the future. While the ideal situation would obviously be to be completely sober when this happens to you, this is unfortunately not always the case and most South Africans have no idea what to expect if they are pulled over whilst intoxicated. …
What to look for when selecting a Divorce Attorney
Making the decision to get a divorce is probably one of the hardest decisions that a person can make. The second hardest decision is probably selecting the divorce attorney that you will use to oversee and facilitate the divorce process on your behalf. As a divorce is already an extremely emotional and sensitive time, a divorce attorney who is also …
Expungement – Do I Qualify?
The expungement process is a criminal record removal process which applies to convictions that meet a certain criteria. In our law, there is unfortunately no “automatic expungement”, which means that a conviction from over 50 years ago will still need to be removed through the criminal record removal process. The requirements that must be met before a conviction will qualify …
Unopposed divorce – What is the process?
Many people are unaware or uncertain of the difference between an opposed and an unopposed divorce and are not sure which applies to them. This article aims to educate the layman a bit more regarding the difference between the two and the standard process to be followed in the case of an unopposed divorce (bearing in mind that each divorce …
How much does a divorce cost?
Many clients have approached SDF Attorneys for assistance in a divorce matter or simply for some advice regarding a potential divorce in the future (should mediation or couple’s therapy fail down the line) and have asked this very important however very difficult question to answer. Asking how much a divorce will cost is unfortunately like asking how long a piece of …
Selecting an attorney where a child is or children are involved
Selecting an attorney where the rights of a child or children are of a major concern is a very difficult task as the usual aggressive and insensitive attorney may not be ideal in that the child or children involved may end up being unnecessarily traumatised. A child or children attorney must be able to remain calm and reasonable while still …