Did you know that more than 55,6% of all divorces in South Africa are spouses who have children under the age of 18 years?

A divorce is a stressful, emotional experience and almost never a seamless process and spouses usually get so caught up in the feud against each other that they forget that their children’s whole world gets turned upside down during the process.

One of the biggest mistakes spouses make is to use the children as a weapon against each other by making them part of the feud like they are suppose to pick sides. This process in fact has nothing to do with them and children should always be kept out of it.

In a divorce proceeding the most important aspect is that it should be in the best interest of the minor children. The biggest aspect parties forget is that regardless whether you and your spouse choose to seperate or divorce, BOTH parties shall retain full parental responsibilities and rights of the minor children, inclusive of acting as guardian, to care for, to maintain contact with and to contribute to the maintenance of the minor child.

Should the Court decide that a child should primary reside with the one parent after a divorce, that parent only received primary residence and should not be mistaken with custody. The other parent still has the same rights and should never be refused access to see his or her child.

A child did not ask for his/her parents to divorce and should therefor not be put in a position to feel that they should also divorce one parent.

A tip during a divorce is to see it through the eyes of your child(ren). What you think is fair to keep your child(ren) away from another parent might not always be fair to your children.

Reference list:

Children’s Act 38 of 2005.

Statistics South Africa