South Africa - Get a Maintenance Order for Child Care

Advertisement

Procedure

Apply In-Person:

1. To apply for getting a maintenance order for child care in person, the applicant must visit the nearest Magistrate’s court in his/her province.
2. The contacts and address information of the Magistrate’s court can be found in the following link: Link
3. Go to the court office and obtain the Form A: Application for a maintenance order (J101) from the relevant department or click here to download: Link
4. Make sure that you have all the documents listed in the “Required documents” section of this page.
5. Complete the application form with relevant details and information as required appropriately and legibly, to avoid refusals.
6. Attach all the documents with the completed application form and proceed to submit it to the Maintenance officer. Also pay the fees at the office (if any).
7. Then, the application and the attached documents will be examined by the Maintenance officer and an Investigator.
8. After all the examination and verification processes, further proceedings will take place as requested by the applicant.

Advertisement

Required Documents

• Completed application form
• Green book or Passport or Drivers’ license or Immigration permit
• Certified copies of the child/children’s birth certificates
• Bank statement for past three months
• Income proof for past three months or Confirmation letter signed by employer
• Proof for Applicant’s full name
• Address document copy of Respondent
• Monthly expense report
• Decree of divorce copy

Office Locations & Contacts

Department of Justice and Constitutional Development Head Office
Physical Adsress: Momentum Centre, 329
Pretorius Street,
Pretoria,
0001
South Africa
Postal Adsress:Private Bag X81
Pretoria,
0001
South Africa
Tel: 080 002 0007
Email:[email protected]
Website link

Eligibility

• Any parent, who is taking care of the child as a primary caregiver, can apply for getting a maintenance order from the other parent.
• If the child is not living with the mother or the father, the person who is looking after the child can also apply for maintenance costs from the parents.

Fees

Please contact the office of the Magistrate’s court in which you apply, for the fees structure.

Validity

Explain the time until which the certificate/document is valid.
e.g. Birth Certificate Valid Forever

Documents to Use

Form A - Application for a maintenance order (J101): Link

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

Please explain processing time taken in obtaining the document/certificate.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

• A maintenance officer and an investigator will investigate your claim and look into your circumstances.

• The court will serve a summons (a letter instructing a person to come to court) on the respondent (the person against whom the claim is brought) to appear in court on a specific date to discuss the matter.

• The respondent then has a choice between agreeing to pay the maintenance as claimed, or contesting the matter in court.

Required Information

• Particulars of the Applicant and child
• Identification number
• Contact information
• Residential details
• Expenditure and income information

Need for the Document

• Maintenance is the obligation to provide another person, for example a minor, with housing, food, clothing, education and medical care, or with the means that are necessary for providing the person with these essentials.
• In order to claim Maintenance, the applicant must seek the assistance and get an order legally from the court.

Information which might help

Refer: Link

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

Link

Others

More information which might help people.