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When is it too late to claim?
Maintenance is always such a contentious topic, and even years later, children can feel let down by a parent who didn’t contribute.
This mother of three wrote to us to ask if her children, now in their 20s, had any rights to the money their father had just arrived at.
Read his letter here:
“Dear Parent24:
The father of my children never paid child support for their upbringing, I did everything alone.
I tried to make a maintenance request once and he threatened my 14-year-old son with violence, so I didn’t go ahead.
My children are now 28, 24, 20 and 18 years old, and none of them are studying full time.
Your father just sold his house.
Can my children apply to the court to pay them some money for all the years that they were unable to provide for it?
Thank you”
Read also: When can a parent finally stop paying child support?
Reasonable layout
Lawyer Deborah Di Siena of Sandton-based Di Siena Attorneys explained that under South African law, both parents have a responsibility to contribute to the support of a child.
Support includes the reasonable provision for a child of clothing, housing, medical care and education, he clarified.
“The duty of a father to support his child does not end when the child reaches the age of majority (18 years), but only when the child becomes self-sufficient,” he said.
Once a child becomes of legal age, the child is considered old enough to submit an application for alimony on their behalf.
An older child can apply for alimony from a parent according to their needs.
“The court will consider the parents’ income as well as their assets to determine alimony,” Di Siena explained, “however, he or she cannot claim alimony from previous years if there was no court order.”
Also, he or she cannot claim alimony if they are self-sufficient.
Read also: Who is entitled to pay alimony?
A reasonable contribution
Di Siena told Parent24 that once a child reaches the age of 18, responsibility shifts to the child to show how much support they need and ultimately the court will decide if the child has a support claim.
“The fact that a child is working does not necessarily mean that he is self-sufficient and that he can still be awarded support,” he said.
In short, your children can, if they are not yet self-sufficient, apply to the court for their father’s alimony.
“The court will consider your monthly expenses, your father’s income, and your assets in order to determine a reasonable monthly support contribution,” he says.
Find more in our Maintenance Issues series here
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