A right to parental care extends to a step parent, a court said in ruling that a stepfather had to pay interim maintenance pending divorce proceedings from the children’s mother.
The Western Cape High Court ruled that the basis for ordering the stepfather to pay maintenance is the children’s right to parental care.
It was said that while being married to the two children’s mother, they formed a blended family and there was no justification for them to suffer now because their mother and stepfather are divorcing.
The couple met when the husband was her patient as a dietician in 2015 and were married in 2018 out of community of property, with the inclusion of the accrual system.
Both were previously married and had two children each from those marriages. No children were born of their marriage. The wife’s children lived primarily with the couple, and the primary care of the man’s children was with their mother. But the children regularly spent time in the parties’ matrimonial home and they in whole formed a blended family.
The mother’s case was that her children had become accustomed to a high standard of living over the last eight years of the marriage. The children were severely prejudiced by the actions of the stepfather and his sudden withdrawal, emotionally and financially, from their lives.
She said that her children were devoted to their stepfather and formed a strong bond with him and his withdrawal from their lives had caused undue trauma.
The husband said he had no legal obligation towards the applicant’s children. He said that during their marriage he never withheld any financial support from his wife and her children and regularly spoiled them with only the best.
They went on luxury holidays, including overseas holidays, lived in a beautiful large house valued at a minimum of R10 million, drove luxury cars and the children attended private schools.
The stepfather’s position was that he did not have parental rights and responsibilities in respect of the applicant’s children, that he did not have a legal duty to maintain them nor did he undertake or promise to maintain them.
According to him the children had a strong bond with their father who had regular contact with them and who contributed towards their maintenance.
He accused the wife of wanting her children to be viewed as their children and his children as visitors.
The applicant sought a finding that the husband stood in the place of the parent and voluntarily assumed that role in respect of the children that she brought into the marriage. That was the basis for the court to find that he was liable for the maintenance of her children.
She said he had no right to terminate a relationship in which he had placed himself as a parent. Judge Daniel Thulare commented that this was a complex social policy issue and not easy to determine.
“In contemporary South Africa, is it still offensive to hold one person liable for the maintenance of another person’s child?” Another question he posed was whether the applicant’s children should be allowed to “double dip” - receive a double portion, from their natural father and from the respondent.
“It is not in the best interests of children that a stepparent be permitted to abruptly abandon those children the moment they fall out of love with their parent,” the judge said. But whether the father should permanently (after the divorce) maintain the children was a question for the trial court to determine (that will handle the divorce proceedings), Judge Thulare said.
But for now, pending the final divorce, the stepfather has to resume his responsibilities, the judge said.
Pretoria News
zelda.venter@inl.co.za