05/03/2018
Document Generating Services:
In South Africa it is accepted practice to regulate the consequences of a divorce by means of a Settlement Agreement between the parties. In most divorces the parties enter into a settlement agreement, in which they agree on matters such as the division of the assets, payment of maintenance, care of and contact to the children and the payment of costs of the proceedings.
These deeds of settlements are not generic and require a considerable amount of thought and expertise when drafting. If they are going to be formalized as part of a court order, the spouse initiating the divorce in a contested divorce or both parties in an uncontested divorce have one chance to place before the court a comprehensive plan that provides for foreseeable eventualities most people don’t consider when caught in the throws’ of emotions associated with the dissolution of a marriage. Subsequent to the finalization of a divorce it is possible to amend certain aspects of a deed of settle but only by incurring further, often expensive, legal cost in order to bring applications to court to ratify those amendments. It is thus prudent for persons contemplating divorce to have a professional tailor-made settlement agreement drafted. An Exit strategy, if you will, that is both efficient and cost effective.
In the case where a client is contemplating divorce but is uncertain, the settlement agreement will give you an idea, based on your marriage system what you will ultimately be entitled to. Having this information at hand is an invaluable tool in determining if divorce is in fact the correct course of action for you.
A contested divorce – Hostile or Unfriendly Divorce - If you and your spouse cannot agree to the terms of the divorce, the contested divorce process will be the only option. A contested divorce is more complicated, drawn-out and costly than an uncontested divorce. In most contested divorces both parties will have attorneys and even advocates to assist them with the paperwork. After the pleadings and discovery phase of a contested divorce, the attorney (of the Plaintiff) will apply for a court date. If no settlement can be reached, pre-trials and the final trial will follow.
Please note that we currently only take on a limited amount of contested divorce matters to ensure that our clients’ matters receive the optimum level of attention.
We seek to provide clients with efficient and cost effective document generating services directed at helping clients reach an agreement through tailor made Deeds of Settlement which in turn may or may not form the basis of a potential divorce application. At the very least for clients contemplating divorce, this process will crystallise their position post-divorce and hopefully assist in avoiding costly hostile and emotionally devastating contested divorces.
