In an article published by Sabinet African Journals on the 1st of March 2021, it was reported that up to 64% of children in South Africa need child maintenance, at the time that equated to approximately 14 million children. With these figures in mind, one can only imagine how congested the Maintenance Courts in South Africa are.
It is common knowledge that it takes a person, on average, 12 to 18 months to get a maintenance order or an increase/reduction of an existing maintenance order. And whilst the extended timeframes may play into the hands of one of the parties, the other party will often use the children as a bargaining tool. Children are caught in the middle of parents’ disputes, which frequently leads to anxiety and even depression in the children. Many children caught in the middle of parental disputes display behavioural problems.
Maintenance is a factual calculation, which means that once all the information and documentation are obtained from both parties, the amount of maintenance payable by each parent is a factual calculation based on the information at hand.
Mediating a maintenance dispute is therefore the most time-efficient, affordable, practical, and sensible manner to settle a maintenance dispute. A question may be raised about the affordability of mediation, however, when one considers the loss of income in the time spent attending court, which can take several full days, versus a couple of hours mediating, it is more affordable than proceeding in the maintenance courts.
The process of mediation and any information shared during the process is confidential and remains confidential even if the mediation fails.
Mediation can also partially succeed, i.e. the parties may agree to what the reasonable costs of the children are but disagree on what each parent must contribute, or visa versa. In such an instance the parties can refer only the aspect in dispute to the Maintenance Court for a decision.
It is really a win-win solution for parties in a maintenance dispute to mediate.
An article by Catherine Coetzee
