Understanding legal grounds for divorce
Before 1979, the grounds for divorce in South Africa included adultery, malicious desertion, incurable mental illness and imprisonment for at least five years of a spouse who was a habitual criminal. Essentially, this meant that in divorce there was always an innocent and a guilty party. Then, in 1979, the Divorce Act was introduced. This redefined the grounds for divorce to include the irretrievable breakdown of a marriage, mental illness or the continuous unconsciousness of a party to the marriage. Many people heading for the divorce courts wrongly think that if their spouse has committed...
Read MoreDivorce Settlement Agreements: Protecting Pension Funds
While divorce settlement agreements are sticky at best, and horrifically complicated at worst, understanding your rights to certain assets during the divorce procedure is critical. One of the most important assets to consider are pension funds – the loss of which can leave either party extremely vulnerable. The pension interest of a party is deemed to be part of his or her assets, in the determination of patrimonial benefits to which the parties to a divorce action may be entitled – as is stated in section 7(7) of the Divorce Act. Whilst this may seem a simple proposition, it has led to...
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