This blog will precisely and directly be dealing with the main remedy a parent has, should he/she face a situation where the other parent, who has primary care of the child, refuses the first mentioned parent access to the child.

In terms of the Children’s act, both parents of a child have access and parental rights towards the said child, even when a child is made out of wedlock or adopted, the same legal principles and responsibilities apply. Therefore, in circumstances where there is a maintenance order in place, whereas the Father needs to pay child maintenance for the minor child and he subsequently fails to do so, the mother of the child does not have the right to deny the said father access to the child as a result of the first mentioned, however, the mother has other available remedies in dealing with same by way of approaching the maintenance officer and criminal proceedings shall be instituted against the father, since failure to pay child maintenance as a result of a court order may be prosecuted. In the alternative the father may be garnished by way of civil law and the money will be directly taken from his salary if he is employed. This all is dealt with by the maintenance court.

On the other hand, should the mother of the child deny the said father access to the child, the father may proceed to approach the office of the Family Advocate in that regard, as social workers and Family advocates will get involved in investigating what is in the best interest of the child and a report will be compiled in that regard. This then falls under the jurisdiction of the Children’s court and NOT maintenance court.

The crux of it all is that both matters are being dealt with by TWO DIFFERENT courts of law and parties are therefore advised not to take the law into their own hands.

After all, the most important and only test the courts use, is “what’s in the best interest of the child”. Meaning, that should it be the position that the mother refuses the Father access to the child because the Father or the said Father’s new girlfriend/wife is abusive towards the child, then the mother does have the right to deny the father access to the child, however, the Mother will have to prove same should the Father decide to take legal measures in that regard.