Lydea Horn

17/11/2024

26/10/2022

Still so true. Maintenance is a vexed issue. A new maintenance act is in the making. Even money held in trusts will be taken in to consideration and the new maintenance act will attempt to address this issue.

26/10/2022

It is the end of the year. Do not compromise a divorce settlement just to have a divorce finalised. Remember, that a divorce decree and what is contained in it, will be the measuring stick for your life after divorce. If it is not contained in the document, it is not part of your settlement.

Lydea

26/10/2022

Can the establishment of a trust be used to avoid sharing your assets with your spouse.
?
There caselaw on this aspect is problematic.
Be careful.

19/10/2022

So excited about attending the Clarks Family Law conference in Johannesburg tomorrow.

16/04/2020

Here it is. The amended Regulations announced today will have an effect on contact for many parents.

16/04/2020

There seems to be some relief for parents who exercised contact to minor children without a parenting plan, prior to lockdown.

11/11/2019

It is the end of the year. Do not compromise a divorce settlement just to have a divorce finalised. Remember, that divorce decree and what is contained in it, will be the measuring stick for your life after divorce. If it is not contained in the document, it is not part of your settlement.

Be careful ou there.

Lydea

27/02/2018

Maintenance: one of the most vexed questions when contemplating a Divorce. Often an issue after Divorce if the maintenance requirements were not addressed properly during the divorce.

And what about maintenance during the course of a Divorce even if your spouse is not happy to support you now that you have decided to proceed with the Divorce? The answer is that a spouse must support you and your children even though you are contemplating Divorce or separated and not yet Divorced if he/she is the breadwinner. Your spouse might even be required to support you post Divorce even if he/she does not want to. And maintenance for children is always a requirmentto be paid by each party proportional to his/her means.

Maintenance payments is a requirement before and after Divorce. Witholding maintenance is a form of abuse and must be dealt with legally. Lydea Horn

18/02/2018

How long does a divorce take to finalise? It depends on the issues which the parties disagree upon. It is important to listen to good legal advice to curtail the time spent on the divorce and the costs involved. Once a divorce summons is issued a 10 court day period has to be pass before the matter may be set down for final hearing , if uncontested. If contested certain time periods will apply for pleadings to be exchanged. Pleadings are court documents which set out the case or the version of the tow parties. During the time when pleadings are exchanged the legal representatives usually attempt to obtain interim arrangements for care and contact of children as well as to address maintenance issues. After the exchange of pleadings there is a discovery period when documents in support of a claim is exchanged. Once the matter is crystallised using these methods the legal representatives apply for the court date if the matter has not settled. After a formal hearing the court will make a ruling on the outstanding issues. Please note that this is in no way a comprehensive summary of the divorce process but merely a basic guide as to how a divorce may proceed.