The office of the Family Advocate was established in 1990 to look after the wellbeing or needs of under aged or dependent children in divorce matters. The role of the Family Advocate is to assist the courts in establishing the best interests of minor children in civil legal disputes. The reports and recommendations made by the Family Advocate enable the …

A protection order is a court order granted by a Magistrate’s Court prohibiting the perpetrator from engaging in or attempting to engage in harassment or enlisting the help of another to do so. A protection order may contain a list of specific acts which the perpetrator may not commit. Although it is not specified on how serious the conduct must …

The rights and responsibilities of a parent is set out in the Children’s Act 38 of 2008 (the “Children’s Act”) and can be defined as a complex set of rights, duties and responsibilities which have to be performed in the best interest of the child. These rights and responsibilities include the following elements namely: caring of the child, maintaining contact …

In current South African law the terms “support”, “maintenance” and “alimony” are used interchangeably. The concept of parental responsibilities and rights also includes the duty to contribute towards the maintenance of the child. The responsibility to support a dependent child constitutes an important aspect of the parent child relationship. There are certain requirements that have to be met for there …

Defamation can be defined as the wrongful and intentional publication of a defamatory statement concerning a person (plaintiff). The plaintiff need only establish that the conduct of another was in the form of a publication which is harmful to the plaintiff’s reputation. Once this has been proven by the plaintiff the other elements of liability are presumed to exist, meaning …