subject: Divorce Lawyer [print this page] When selecting a divorce lawyer you should look for a divorce lawyer that is part of a law firm that has a strategic and functional business model that is aimed at providing personalized legal professional services to its selected group of clients in order to afford you, the client a dedicated and superior service experience that not only meets, but exceeds your needs and expectations.
You should seek highly skilled legal professionals with extensive legal experience in family law who are dedicated to serving your needs.
They should have a specialized divorce team whose focus is on getting a divorce finalised as speedily as possible by virtue of the stress that divorce proceedings place on clients whilst ensuring that your financial and other interests are protected at all times.
A marriage may be dissolved by a Court by a decree of divorce and the only grounds on which such a decree may be granted are:
The irretrievable breakdown of the marriage;
The mental illness or the continuous and consciousness of a party to the marriage.
Once it is established that the marriage relationship between the parties has reach such a state of disintegration that there is no reasonable prospect of the restoration of a normal marriage relationship between them, your first attempt is to arrange a divorce on an unopposed basis.
In order to achieve this, it is accepted practice in South Africa to regulate the consequences of divorce by means of a settlement agreement in which parties agree on matters such as division of their assets, payment of maintenance, custody of and access to children and payment of the costs of proceedings.
When facilitating a settlement agreement, focus is on the following:
Division of movable assets;
Division of pension funds and policies;
Division of the fixed assets;
Arrangements with regard to debt accumulated during the marriage;
Personal maintenance for any of the parties;
Anything else on which the parties wish to settle.
Once the issues aforementioned have been attended too, focus shifts to the children born from the marriage. Section 22(2) of the Constitution prescribes that a childs best interests are of paramount importance in any matter concerning the child and the childrens interests should receive priority above personal disagreements. In this regard, your divorce lawyer should: facilitate agreement pertaining to parental responsibilities and rights in respect of the minor children.
Facilitating to whom the primary residence and care of the minor children will be awarded;
Make the necessary arrangements in the agreement pertaining to contact with the minor children which can include weekly contact, reasonable telephonic contact and school holidays. Your divorce lawyer should also assist in calculating what maintenance will be reasonable to be paid in the circumstances and apart from maintenance per child, your divorce lawyer should facilitate arrangements pertaining to payment of school fees, educational expenses relating to the childrens secondary education including school books and extra mural activities as well as arrangements pertaining to medical expenses.
In the event that a unopposed divorce cannot be facilitated, your divorce lawyer should aggressively represent you in order to protect your rights in an opposed divorce where the aspects mentioned above are addressed.
