QUICK FACTS!
MAINTENANCE OF A CHILD(REN)
What is maintenance?
Section 2 of the Custody, Contact, Guardianship and Maintenance Act No. 5 of 2011 (“CCGMA”) defines maintenance as “the provision of money or property and includes, in respect of a child, provision for that child’s education”. In other words, it refers to the financial and educational support of a child. This may include housing, food, clothing, education and medical care.
Who is a child and is he or she entitled to maintenance?
It is important to note who is regarded as a child by the law. This will determine the entitlement to maintenance under the act. Section 2 CCGMA provides that a child is someone under the age of eighteen years, whether born in or out of wedlock and who has never been married. However, if someone has special needs, that person is considered a child, regardless of their age. A child also includes a stepchild, a child adopted by law, or someone treated as a child of the family: Section 2 CCGMA.
In Day v Day [1988] 1 FLR 278, the applicant had two children from a previous relationship. Despite the fact that the respondent was not the children’s biological father, for four years prior to the marriage, he provided weekly sums to cover all outgoings. The magistrate therefore held, on an application for maintenance, that having regard to the history with the children, the respondent had treated the children as children of the family and so he was legally responsible to maintain them.
It may also include a grandchild; however, this is limited to the inability of the parents to maintain the child(ren), rather than the willful refusal to maintain that child(ren). The grandparents’ responsibility is therefore only triggered by the inability of the parents to maintain.
