How Long Must You Wait To Remarry After Divorce In South Africa
According to South African law, divorce (or the dissolution of marriage) is the cancellation of a marriage’s legal obligations and liabilities as well as the dissolution of the bonds of matrimony between a married couple. Divorce differs from annulment, which deems the marriage invalid. Divorce must be approved by a court through a formal legal procedure. In addition to alimony (spousal support), child custody, child support, property division, and debt division, the legal process of divorce may also entail these concerns.
In South Africa, how long must you wait to remarry after divorcing?
Couples in South Africa are allowed three months after divorce to revise their wills because getting divorced takes a long time.
After getting divorced in South Africa, it takes time for the legal system to process the divorce, so couples can amend their wills during that time period.
Is It Possible To Marry Again After A Divorce In South Africa?
During the three-month post-divorce amendment period, South African couples may amend their wills because divorce takes time to process.
What Does The Law Say
Before the Divorce Act took effect in South Africa on 1 July 1979, the court could issue a divorce decree based on either of the two common-law grounds of adultery or malicious desertion or on one of the two grounds added in 1935 by the Divorce Laws Amendment Act: incurable insanity for a period of at least seven years or imprisonment of the defendant spouse for a period of at least five years after such spouse has been found to be a habitual offender. These grounds for divorce, with the exception of insanity, were founded on the guilt (or culpability) concept, which is the presumption that, in every divorce action, only one spouse is at fault for the dissolution of the marriage.
Therefore, establishing that the defendant had deliberately committed a marital offense was necessary for the plaintiff’s case to succeed. The guilty party forfeited all patrimonial benefits of the marriage if the former applied for a forfeiture order against him or her, so the guilt principle also determined the patrimonial effects of divorce in that, absent a maintenance agreement between the spouses, an order for post-divorce maintenance could only be made in favor of the innocent party against the guilty party.
