Divorce and co-guardianship of the child
In a divorce situation South African courts encourage co-guardianship between the parents, to enable both parents to have equal decision making power in the life of the minor child.
A co-guardianship arrangement would generally also benefit the minor child as it involves both parents partaking more in the minor child’s wellbeing rather than just one parent. In most instances the primary place of residence of the minor child would be with his/her mother especially when the child is under the age of six years.
One should ensure that a divorce settlement agreement is very thorough in dealing with the relevant stages of the minor child’s life, particularly before the age of three where day visits are encouraged, the age of four where weekend visits are encouraged, and the age of six when the minor child attains school going age and each parent is normally encouraged to share the school holidays.
A party in a divorce matter should also ensure that contact arrangements for all special occasions of the year are settled in the divorce papers, e.g. Father’s Day, Mother’s Day and the minor child’s birthday.
It would be prudent in the divorce papers also to mention the decision making powers, as well as clauses relating to how disputes between the parents regarding decisions relating to the minor child should be resolved.
This article was written by Peter Baker, a specialist divorce lawyer in Cape Town.