Written by Umamah Bakharia 

As fathers day passes, reports often come to light of fathers failing their children after a divorce as high-profile divorce cases highlight how ugly divorces can get.

These include stories of how some fathers do not pay maintenance, or papgeld as it is known in South Africa. However, there are millions of fathers who are more than willing to remain in their children’s lives and help financially.

To highlight the issue of divorce law and the country’s fathers, Radio Islam speaks to Managing Director of Schoeman Law Inc, Nicolene Schoeman-Louw who says that a parent’s duty towards maintaining your minor child is of utmost importance during a divorce or a separation.

“Both parents that have a biological connection to the child, have to equally contribute to the maintenance of the child,” says Schoeman-Louw.

Adding she says in most South African cases, mothers are granted full custody of the child as a primary caregiver. Unless the parties to the divorce proceedings come to some alternative agreement between themselves.

In response to the role a father can play in a divorce, Schoeman-Louw says, “we don’t often hear of biological fathers who are awarded custody of the minor children or primary care, and there is bias when both the parties come to a contrary around teh issue.”

Parenting plans have proven to assist when the child visits the other parent, for equal access to the children.  However, the breaking up of the marital relationship can lead to parties trying to avoid each other.

“My advice to those fathers would be to get some professional legal advice and to make applications to court for the variation of the parenting plan or if you don’t have one to make sure that it is put in place when the marriage breaks up,” says Schoeman-Louw.