The law, specifically the Children’s Act 38 of 2005, states that parents, whether in a relationship or not, must make necessary financial contributions to the care, upbringing and development of their children.
It also specifies that both parents have a duty to maintain each child.
Typically, a divorce agreement or maintenance order from the court will stipulate the cash amount a parent needs to pay to the parent who has primary care of the child.
It’s important to note here that the duty to pay child maintenance also applies if the child was adopted or born out of wedlock.
This legal duty also extends to legal guardians, and biological grandparents (yes, grandparents can be asked to pay child maintenance if the parents cannot afford to pay).
Maintenance payments should continue until a child is self-supporting (this doesn’t necessarily mean when the child legally becomes an adult at 18 years of age).
Maintenance courts are possibly the most backlogged of the courts even though the district and regional magistrate courts have the mandate to handle maintenance cases.
A mediated, fair and settled agreement for maintenance will be more agreeable as it will unburden the courts who have to process many applications daily for maintenance.
@mediationacademy has developed a FREE “Zero Math” easy to use, Maintenance Calculator which can be found on their website!
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