Find a divorce attorney in South Africa: uncontested and contested divorce, marital regimes, accrual, maintenance, parenting plans and interim relief.
List your firm for freeA divorce attorney takes a marriage apart lawfully: drafting the settlement agreement and parenting plan in an uncontested divorce, and running the pleadings, interim maintenance applications and trial in a contested one. They deal with the division of the estate under the marital regime, spousal and child maintenance, pension interests, care of and contact with children, and the enforcement of orders afterwards.
An uncontested divorce is commonly a fixed fee plus sheriff and court costs. A contested divorce is hourly and can become the most expensive litigation a person ever pays for, so ask about mediation and about settling the issues that can be settled. The Legal Practice Act requires a written cost estimate at the start.
General information about South African law and practice, not advice on your matter. The practitioners listed on this page give that advice.
Once the settlement agreement and, where there are children, the parenting plan endorsed by the Family Advocate are ready, an uncontested divorce is usually finalised within six to twelve weeks, depending on the court roll. A contested divorce commonly runs for one to three years.
A marriage out of community of property with accrual keeps each spouse estate separate during the marriage, but on divorce the spouse whose estate grew less shares in half the difference in growth. Assets excluded in the antenuptial contract, inheritances and certain damages fall outside the calculation.
Yes. Rule 43 in the High Court and Rule 58 in the Regional Court allow a spouse to apply for interim maintenance, a contribution to legal costs, and interim care of and contact with the children while the divorce is pending. These applications are decided on affidavit and relatively quickly.
Fee quotes with the cost notice, trust for maintenance and settlements, the court diary and a client portal.