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The rights of children
Every kid has fundamental rights!
Featured Articles
A Johannesburg businessman has failed to prevent his excommunication from the Jewish Orthodox community by the Jewish ecclesiastical court – the Beth Din – because he failed to honour his child maintenance agreements.
On Monday, 27 September 2004 in the first case of this kind in South Africa, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) handed down a ruling that prescription will only start to run in child sexual abuse claims brought by adult survivors of such abuse once the survivor is aware that they were not to blame for the abuse.
A parent’s duty to support a child does not cease when the child reaches a particular age but it usually does so when the child becomes self-supporting.
The objective of the Act is to provide an effective legal procedure for victims of domestic violence and to facilitate a cheap procedure that can be followed in the magistrate’s court
What legal steps can you take if your spouse fails to pay maintenance?
Adoption is a legal way for an adult single person or couple to become the legal parents of a child. When you adopt a child, the child becomes yours as though born of you.
A SA branch of the British founded Fathers-4-Justice (F4J), a civil rights organisation campaigning for children's rights to see both parents and grandparents after a divorce, has been formed. Dr Steven Pretorius the founder of F4J in SA, said the organisation's main goal was to raise awareness of the plight of many parents – mainly fathers who had restricted or no access to their children
What is the legal effect on the father of an illegitimate child who subsequently marries the child’s mother?
The South African branch of Fathers4Justice, a non-profit organisation campaigning for the rights of parents to have access to their children, wants to see the practice of almost always awarding custody to women changed.
What are the rights are of a parent who has joint custody of a child as opposed to one that has sole custody?
What is the legal position of a divorced parent taking a child overseas permanently?
The Cape High Court has given single parents seeking maintenance from their former partners a major breakthrough by ruling that maintenance courts can grant any order to ensure that maintenance orders are satisfied.
A divorced parent may be refused permission to take a child overseas if it not in the best interests of the child
Your rights and responsibilities as a new adult...
Every child has the right to basic necessities such as food, shelter, clothing, medical care and schooling.
If you have children but haven’t named guardians for them in your will, you may be setting your family up for a costly, even bitter custody process.
Every kid has rights, particularly when mom and dad are
splitting up.
Divorce
is never easy on kids, but there are many ways parents can
lessen the impact of their break-up on their children:
This article discusses recent developments in US law where a parent is granted "virtual visitation" - the chance to talk with a child through an internet video connection
In what is seen as a landmark ruling, a mother of two has been awarded R100 000 in outstanding maintenance payments over five years from her former husband for their 10-year-old son.
In the case of Helen Margaret Ford V Michael George William Ford, the Supreme Court of Appeal (Case 52/05) rejected an application by the custodian parent of young child for leave to remove the child permanently from South Africa on the basis that it was not in the interests of child.
Maintenance is the obligation to provide another person, for example a minor, with housing, food, clothing, education and medical care, or with the means that are necessary for providing the person with these essentials. This legal duty to maintain is called ‘the duty to maintain’ or ‘the duty to support’.
Children up to the age of 18 should be protected. Child protection is effected through a social worker, policeman or an authorised officer who may remove a child to a place of safety without a warrant if he or she has reason to believe that the child is in need of care.
Learn the difference between legal custody, physical custody, sole custody, and joint custody.
The Births and Deaths Registration Act 51 of 1992 governs the surname a child assumes at birth and when a woman or man may change his or her surname.
Tacit emancipation occurs when the capacity of a minor to act without parental consent is 'enlarged' to encompass certain key areas that will enable him or her to be viewed by the law as a major.
This article discusses minors, majority and the rights of minors
Although nothing can replace face-to-face contact with your children, if you are about to go through a divorce, ask your attorney to provide for "virtual visitation" in your divorce agreement. This will guarantee you the chance to talk with your children through an internet video connection regularly each week. These chats will keep you going between your in-person visits, which may happen only once a year.
To establish safeguards to ensure that inter-country adoptions take place in the best interests of the child and with respect for his or her fundamental rights as recognized in international law and to establish a system of co-operation amongst Contracting States to ensure that those safeguards are respected and thereby prevent the abduction, the sale of, or traffic in children.
Co-holders of parental responsibility are obliged to devise a family plan before approaching the court for relief. This can be done through mediation by a social worker or other suitably qualified persons, including an attorney who is an accredited divorce mediator.
Sections 7 to 10 of the Children’s Act deal with what constitutes the “best interests” of children.
This is a roadmap to assist parents in dealing with their rights and responsibilities of their children after the divorce
In an ideal world, divorced or single parents should agree that all decision-making will be done with the best interests of their children in mind (and put aside their personal diffences)
Even though it is not a pleasant thought it is something one has to think about when one has a child – a legal guardian.
Although contact times depend on circumstances, the Family Advocate has made these recommendations
In all actions concerning children whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities, or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.
This article deals with the consent required before one parent can remove a child from or within the Republic
In terms of the Children’s Act an unmarried father can acquire parental rights and responsibilities automatically (without needing to go to court) if he complies with conditions set out in section 21.
Whose consent is required to adopt a child?
In terms of Section 35 (1) of the new Children's Act the father commits a criminal offence if he refuses to return the child after a contact weekend or holiday.
Can divorcing parents compel their young child to belong to their church and adhere to its dictates?
Compelling a child to be God-fearing
You’re pregnant, your world is soft and beautiful and everything looks rosy. However, you could be facing a very different picture five or ten years from now.
The Legal Aid Board can appoint a separate legal representative for a child without a court order and without permission from a parent or guardian
The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has handed down a landmark judgment that recognises couples, who have children through surrogacy, as the legal parents.
“What is in the interest of the child?” is the question that must be asked in all situations in which legal decisions have to be made about the welfare of children.
In the case of de Groot v de Groot heard in the High Court in September 2009, Mom applied to court for leave to emigrate to Dubai with her husband-to-be over the objection of her ex husband who refused to give her permission to take the children with her
The Children's Act deals with proof of paternity
If you are divorced or separated and share contact times with your ex you should keep track of the time you spend with your kids
There are ways to minimise the trauma a child feels when parents break up, writes Judith Ancer
Divorce is not something a preschooler can easily deal with.
When it comes to divorce, your toddler will be the one who suffers the most.
Divorce is never easy and now your teen is caught in the middle.
If co-parenting is not possible, we recommend that parents wait until the baby is older to introduce overnight visiting schedules
Children are often the innocent bystanders in a divorce situation. And no matter how justified the reason for the divorce, parents need to understand their responsibility to minimize the impact on them and make this major change in their lives as easy as is humanly possible.
The court held it is in the best interests of a child that a non-custodian parent should be liable to pay for school fees and can be forced to pay by a court order.
Magistrate finds husband has duty to maintain his wife in terms of their religious marriage in accordance with Hindu Personal Law, and grants an order for monthly maintenance
In the case of Maneli v Maneli handed down on 19 April 2010 the South Gauteng High Court ruled that children adopted through Xhosa customary law are entitled to maintenance from their adoptive parents after a divorce.
When can a mother move with her child
An adoptive father has a legal duty to maintain the minor child he and the applicant adopted in terms of Xhosa customary law
When it comes to proving paternity the court accepts three types of tests
This article describes the duty to support someone else financially
As China is not a signatory to The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, it is not bound by procedures to expedite child custody cases across state lines.
Adoption means that an adult person takes a child who is not biologically his or hers and makes that child his or her own child. He or she acquires full parental responsibilities and rights towards the child.
What is required to relocate with a minor child within or outside South Africa
The Children’s Act 38 of 2005 now regulates the relationship between children and parents. The terminology has also changed and the law no longer refers to parental power, custody and access, but to parental responsibilities and rights, care and contact.
Whether you are pro- or anti-abortion, in terms of the Choice of Termination of Pregnancy Act, 92 of 1996, any woman (irrespective of age) who does not want to go through with a pregnancy can choose to have the pregnancy terminated. Parental or partner's consent is not required.
A summary of cases
South African law prohibits the use of the sperm of a dead man unless he had given written permission
What rights does the alleged father have?
This article explores the duty of support
A child becomes a major in the eyes of our law when he or she turns 18. When can a minor (a child under 18) be liable for contracts that he or she enters into?