Family Law Terms

Adoption

A Children's Court process that can create a permanent legal parent-child relationship between a child and adoptive parent or parents.

Annulment

A legal process that asks a court to declare that a marriage is void or voidable, rather than ending it by divorce.

Attachment of debts for maintenance

A maintenance-enforcement order that can attach money owed to the person who failed to comply with a maintenance order.

Attachment of emoluments for maintenance

A maintenance-enforcement order requiring deductions from salary, wages, or similar earnings to pay maintenance arrears or ongoing maintenance.

Best interests of the child

A child-focused legal standard requiring decisions about children to prioritise the child's welfare, safety, development, and circumstances.

Breach of protection order

A possible violation of the terms of a protection order, which may trigger police, court, or criminal-law steps depending on the order and facts.

Care of a child

A parental responsibility and right concerning a child's day-to-day care, living arrangements, supervision, safety, and wellbeing.

Child

In South African family-law and children's-rights context, a child is generally a person under 18 years of age.

Child abduction

The wrongful removal or retention of a child, often across borders, in a way that may trigger urgent family-law, Children's Court, or Hague Convention steps.

Child and youth care centre

A registered residential care facility for children who need placement, care, protection, treatment, or developmental support under child-protection law.

Child exposed to domestic violence

A child who has seen, heard, experienced, or been affected by domestic violence in a home or family setting.

Child in need of care and protection

A Children's Act concept used where a child may need court, social-work, or state protection because of risk, neglect, abuse, abandonment, exploitation, or lack of proper care.

Child Maintenance

Financial support that parents or responsible persons may need to provide for a child's needs.

Children's Court

A specialist court that deals with child-protection, care, guardianship, foster-care, and other Children's Act matters.

Coercive behaviour

Controlling, threatening, pressuring, or intimidating conduct that restricts another person's choices or safety in a domestic or family context.

Complainant in domestic violence

The person who applies for protection or reports domestic violence under the domestic-violence protection framework.

Contact with a child

A parental responsibility and right involving communication, visits, or personal interaction with a child.

Contested Divorce

A divorce where the spouses do not agree on one or more material issues.

Controlling behaviour

A pattern of conduct in a domestic relationship that restricts a person's movement, choices, contact with others, money, communication, or daily life.

Decree Of Divorce

The court order that formally confirms a divorce has been granted.

Discharge of maintenance order

A Maintenance Court process that ends an existing maintenance order where the legal and factual basis for ending it is proved.

Divorce

The legal process that ends a civil marriage or qualifying marriage through a court order.

Divorce Lawyer

Divorce Lawyer describes legal help linked to family law, including matters such as divorce, settlement, and parenting and maintenance.

Divorce Settlement Agreement

The written agreement that records the terms spouses want the court to make part of a divorce order.

Domestic relationship

A relationship category that can bring a matter within domestic-violence protection-order law.

Domestic violence

Abusive, threatening, controlling, or harmful conduct within a domestic relationship that may justify protection-order, police, safety, or court steps.

Domestic violence safety monitoring notice

A domestic-violence process notice connected to monitoring safety risk, compliance, or protection steps after domestic-violence information reaches the justice system.

Duty of support

A legal duty to provide support where the law recognises a family or dependency relationship, often involving parents, children, spouses, or estates.

Economic abuse

Domestic-violence conduct involving control, deprivation, or interference with money, property, income, housing, necessities, or financial independence.

Electronic communications direction

A court-related direction that may be used to deal with abusive, threatening, or harassing electronic communication in a domestic-violence or protection-order process.

Emotional abuse

Abusive conduct that harms, intimidates, humiliates, controls, threatens, or undermines a person's emotional or psychological wellbeing in a domestic relationship.

Family Advocate

An official office that assists courts with family matters involving children, care, contact, guardianship, and best interests.

Family Counsellor

A professional in the Office of the Family Advocate who assists with enquiries and recommendations in child-related family-law disputes.

Family Lawyer

Family Lawyer describes legal help linked to family law, including matters such as maintenance, parenting arrangements, and family disputes.

Final protection order

A court-confirmed protection order that remains in force after the court has considered whether protection terms should be made final.

Foster care

A Children's Court-supervised placement where a child is placed in the care of a foster parent or suitable caregiver under the child-protection framework.

Guardianship

A parental responsibility and right involving major decisions and legal authority for a child.

Harassment in domestic violence

Repeated or unwanted conduct in a domestic relationship that intimidates, threatens, follows, contacts, monitors, or causes fear or harm.

Interim protection order

A temporary protection order granted before the court decides whether to make protection terms final.

Irretrievable breakdown

A divorce-law ground describing a marriage relationship that has broken down so seriously that it cannot reasonably be restored.

Laying-in expenses

Birth-related and pregnancy-related expenses that may be considered in a maintenance matter, especially where support connected to a child's birth is disputed.

Legal separation

A practical separation between spouses who remain legally married; in South Africa, divorce is the court process that legally ends the marriage.

Maintenance Arrears

Maintenance amounts that are due under an agreement or order but have not been paid.

Maintenance complaint

A Maintenance Court process used to ask for maintenance, enforce maintenance, or change an existing maintenance arrangement.

Maintenance Court

The court process used for maintenance applications, enquiries, variation, and enforcement.

Maintenance enquiry

A Maintenance Court enquiry into whether maintenance should be ordered, changed, enforced, suspended, or discharged based on the parties' circumstances.

Maintenance investigator

A maintenance-process official who gathers information about income, employment, residence, assets, payment history, or financial circumstances for a Maintenance Court matter.

Maintenance officer

A Maintenance Court official who receives, screens, investigates, and helps process maintenance complaints, enquiries, variation requests, and enforcement steps.

Maintenance Order

A court order that requires a person to pay maintenance for a child, spouse, or another qualifying dependant.

Maintenance warrant of execution

A Maintenance Court enforcement document that authorises attachment or execution steps to recover unpaid maintenance where the legal requirements are met.

Parental responsibilities and rights

The Children's Act framework for a parent's responsibilities and rights toward a child, including care, contact, guardianship, and support duties.

Parenting Plan

A written plan that records care, contact, and parental-responsibility arrangements for a child.

Physical abuse

Domestic-violence conduct involving physical harm, assault, threats of physical harm, or conduct that puts a person's bodily safety at risk.

Protection order

A court order that restricts abusive, threatening, harassing, or harmful conduct and can set conditions to protect a complainant or affected person.

Relocation with a child

A child-related family-law issue where moving a child may affect care, contact, guardianship, schooling, stability, or another parent's parental responsibilities and rights.

Respondent in domestic violence

The person against whom a domestic-violence protection order or related domestic-violence relief is sought.

Sexual abuse in domestic violence

Sexual abuse, coercion, assault, threats, or unwanted sexual conduct within a domestic relationship.

Spousal maintenance

Financial support that one spouse or former spouse may claim from the other during or after a marriage breakdown, depending on the facts and court order.

Uncontested Divorce

A divorce where the spouses agree on the main terms needed to finalise the matter.

Variation of maintenance order

A court process to change an existing maintenance order because circumstances have changed or the existing order needs adjustment.

Warrant of arrest for protection order

A warrant linked to a protection order that may allow arrest if the order is breached and the legal requirements for enforcement are met.

Core definitions

Core terms in this track

Divorce

The legal process that ends a civil marriage or qualifying marriage through a court order.

Maintenance Order

A court order that requires a person to pay maintenance for a child, spouse, or another qualifying dependant.

Decree Of Divorce

The court order that formally confirms a divorce has been granted.

Contested Divorce

A divorce where the spouses do not agree on one or more material issues.

Uncontested Divorce

A divorce where the spouses agree on the main terms needed to finalise the matter.

Divorce Settlement Agreement

The written agreement that records the terms spouses want the court to make part of a divorce order.

Child Maintenance

Financial support that parents or responsible persons may need to provide for a child's needs.

Maintenance Court

The court process used for maintenance applications, enquiries, variation, and enforcement.

Maintenance Arrears

Maintenance amounts that are due under an agreement or order but have not been paid.

Parenting Plan

A written plan that records care, contact, and parental-responsibility arrangements for a child.

Family Advocate

An official office that assists courts with family matters involving children, care, contact, guardianship, and best interests.

Best interests of the child

A child-focused legal standard requiring decisions about children to prioritise the child's welfare, safety, development, and circumstances.

Breach of protection order

A possible violation of the terms of a protection order, which may trigger police, court, or criminal-law steps depending on the order and facts.

Care of a child

A parental responsibility and right concerning a child's day-to-day care, living arrangements, supervision, safety, and wellbeing.

Child

In South African family-law and children's-rights context, a child is generally a person under 18 years of age.

Child exposed to domestic violence

A child who has seen, heard, experienced, or been affected by domestic violence in a home or family setting.

Child in need of care and protection

A Children's Act concept used where a child may need court, social-work, or state protection because of risk, neglect, abuse, abandonment, exploitation, or lack of proper care.

Children's Court

A specialist court that deals with child-protection, care, guardianship, foster-care, and other Children's Act matters.

Contact with a child

A parental responsibility and right involving communication, visits, or personal interaction with a child.

Domestic relationship

A relationship category that can bring a matter within domestic-violence protection-order law.

Domestic violence

Abusive, threatening, controlling, or harmful conduct within a domestic relationship that may justify protection-order, police, safety, or court steps.

Duty of support

A legal duty to provide support where the law recognises a family or dependency relationship, often involving parents, children, spouses, or estates.

Economic abuse

Domestic-violence conduct involving control, deprivation, or interference with money, property, income, housing, necessities, or financial independence.

Emotional abuse

Abusive conduct that harms, intimidates, humiliates, controls, threatens, or undermines a person's emotional or psychological wellbeing in a domestic relationship.

Final protection order

A court-confirmed protection order that remains in force after the court has considered whether protection terms should be made final.

Guardianship

A parental responsibility and right involving major decisions and legal authority for a child.

Interim protection order

A temporary protection order granted before the court decides whether to make protection terms final.

Irretrievable breakdown

A divorce-law ground describing a marriage relationship that has broken down so seriously that it cannot reasonably be restored.

Maintenance complaint

A Maintenance Court process used to ask for maintenance, enforce maintenance, or change an existing maintenance arrangement.

Parental responsibilities and rights

The Children's Act framework for a parent's responsibilities and rights toward a child, including care, contact, guardianship, and support duties.

Physical abuse

Domestic-violence conduct involving physical harm, assault, threats of physical harm, or conduct that puts a person's bodily safety at risk.

Protection order

A court order that restricts abusive, threatening, harassing, or harmful conduct and can set conditions to protect a complainant or affected person.

Sexual abuse in domestic violence

Sexual abuse, coercion, assault, threats, or unwanted sexual conduct within a domestic relationship.

Spousal maintenance

Financial support that one spouse or former spouse may claim from the other during or after a marriage breakdown, depending on the facts and court order.

Variation of maintenance order

A court process to change an existing maintenance order because circumstances have changed or the existing order needs adjustment.

Warrant of arrest for protection order

A warrant linked to a protection order that may allow arrest if the order is breached and the legal requirements for enforcement are met.

Controlling behaviour

A pattern of conduct in a domestic relationship that restricts a person's movement, choices, contact with others, money, communication, or daily life.

Discharge of maintenance order

A Maintenance Court process that ends an existing maintenance order where the legal and factual basis for ending it is proved.

Domestic violence safety monitoring notice

A domestic-violence process notice connected to monitoring safety risk, compliance, or protection steps after domestic-violence information reaches the justice system.

Electronic communications direction

A court-related direction that may be used to deal with abusive, threatening, or harassing electronic communication in a domestic-violence or protection-order process.

Family Counsellor

A professional in the Office of the Family Advocate who assists with enquiries and recommendations in child-related family-law disputes.

Foster care

A Children's Court-supervised placement where a child is placed in the care of a foster parent or suitable caregiver under the child-protection framework.

Harassment in domestic violence

Repeated or unwanted conduct in a domestic relationship that intimidates, threatens, follows, contacts, monitors, or causes fear or harm.

Laying-in expenses

Birth-related and pregnancy-related expenses that may be considered in a maintenance matter, especially where support connected to a child's birth is disputed.

Legal separation

A practical separation between spouses who remain legally married; in South Africa, divorce is the court process that legally ends the marriage.

Maintenance enquiry

A Maintenance Court enquiry into whether maintenance should be ordered, changed, enforced, suspended, or discharged based on the parties' circumstances.

Maintenance investigator

A maintenance-process official who gathers information about income, employment, residence, assets, payment history, or financial circumstances for a Maintenance Court matter.

Maintenance officer

A Maintenance Court official who receives, screens, investigates, and helps process maintenance complaints, enquiries, variation requests, and enforcement steps.

Maintenance warrant of execution

A Maintenance Court enforcement document that authorises attachment or execution steps to recover unpaid maintenance where the legal requirements are met.

Relocation with a child

A child-related family-law issue where moving a child may affect care, contact, guardianship, schooling, stability, or another parent's parental responsibilities and rights.

Respondent in domestic violence

The person against whom a domestic-violence protection order or related domestic-violence relief is sought.

Adoption

A Children's Court process that can create a permanent legal parent-child relationship between a child and adoptive parent or parents.

Annulment

A legal process that asks a court to declare that a marriage is void or voidable, rather than ending it by divorce.

Attachment of debts for maintenance

A maintenance-enforcement order that can attach money owed to the person who failed to comply with a maintenance order.

Attachment of emoluments for maintenance

A maintenance-enforcement order requiring deductions from salary, wages, or similar earnings to pay maintenance arrears or ongoing maintenance.

Child abduction

The wrongful removal or retention of a child, often across borders, in a way that may trigger urgent family-law, Children's Court, or Hague Convention steps.

Child and youth care centre

A registered residential care facility for children who need placement, care, protection, treatment, or developmental support under child-protection law.

Coercive behaviour

Controlling, threatening, pressuring, or intimidating conduct that restricts another person's choices or safety in a domestic or family context.

Complainant in domestic violence

The person who applies for protection or reports domestic violence under the domestic-violence protection framework.

Family Lawyer

Family Lawyer describes legal help linked to family law, including matters such as maintenance, parenting arrangements, and family disputes.

Divorce Lawyer

Divorce Lawyer describes legal help linked to family law, including matters such as divorce, settlement, and parenting and maintenance.

Browse all glossary tracks

All terms

Browse this section

Divorce

The legal process that ends a civil marriage or qualifying marriage through a court order.

Maintenance Order

A court order that requires a person to pay maintenance for a child, spouse, or another qualifying dependant.

Decree Of Divorce

The court order that formally confirms a divorce has been granted.

Contested Divorce

A divorce where the spouses do not agree on one or more material issues.

Uncontested Divorce

A divorce where the spouses agree on the main terms needed to finalise the matter.

Divorce Settlement Agreement

The written agreement that records the terms spouses want the court to make part of a divorce order.

Child Maintenance

Financial support that parents or responsible persons may need to provide for a child's needs.

Maintenance Court

The court process used for maintenance applications, enquiries, variation, and enforcement.

Maintenance Arrears

Maintenance amounts that are due under an agreement or order but have not been paid.

Parenting Plan

A written plan that records care, contact, and parental-responsibility arrangements for a child.

Family Advocate

An official office that assists courts with family matters involving children, care, contact, guardianship, and best interests.

Best interests of the child

A child-focused legal standard requiring decisions about children to prioritise the child's welfare, safety, development, and circumstances.

Breach of protection order

A possible violation of the terms of a protection order, which may trigger police, court, or criminal-law steps depending on the order and facts.

Care of a child

A parental responsibility and right concerning a child's day-to-day care, living arrangements, supervision, safety, and wellbeing.

Child

In South African family-law and children's-rights context, a child is generally a person under 18 years of age.

Child exposed to domestic violence

A child who has seen, heard, experienced, or been affected by domestic violence in a home or family setting.

Child in need of care and protection

A Children's Act concept used where a child may need court, social-work, or state protection because of risk, neglect, abuse, abandonment, exploitation, or lack of proper care.

Children's Court

A specialist court that deals with child-protection, care, guardianship, foster-care, and other Children's Act matters.

Contact with a child

A parental responsibility and right involving communication, visits, or personal interaction with a child.

Domestic relationship

A relationship category that can bring a matter within domestic-violence protection-order law.

Domestic violence

Abusive, threatening, controlling, or harmful conduct within a domestic relationship that may justify protection-order, police, safety, or court steps.

Duty of support

A legal duty to provide support where the law recognises a family or dependency relationship, often involving parents, children, spouses, or estates.

Economic abuse

Domestic-violence conduct involving control, deprivation, or interference with money, property, income, housing, necessities, or financial independence.

Emotional abuse

Abusive conduct that harms, intimidates, humiliates, controls, threatens, or undermines a person's emotional or psychological wellbeing in a domestic relationship.

Final protection order

A court-confirmed protection order that remains in force after the court has considered whether protection terms should be made final.

Guardianship

A parental responsibility and right involving major decisions and legal authority for a child.

Interim protection order

A temporary protection order granted before the court decides whether to make protection terms final.

Irretrievable breakdown

A divorce-law ground describing a marriage relationship that has broken down so seriously that it cannot reasonably be restored.

Maintenance complaint

A Maintenance Court process used to ask for maintenance, enforce maintenance, or change an existing maintenance arrangement.

Parental responsibilities and rights

The Children's Act framework for a parent's responsibilities and rights toward a child, including care, contact, guardianship, and support duties.

Physical abuse

Domestic-violence conduct involving physical harm, assault, threats of physical harm, or conduct that puts a person's bodily safety at risk.

Protection order

A court order that restricts abusive, threatening, harassing, or harmful conduct and can set conditions to protect a complainant or affected person.

Sexual abuse in domestic violence

Sexual abuse, coercion, assault, threats, or unwanted sexual conduct within a domestic relationship.

Spousal maintenance

Financial support that one spouse or former spouse may claim from the other during or after a marriage breakdown, depending on the facts and court order.

Variation of maintenance order

A court process to change an existing maintenance order because circumstances have changed or the existing order needs adjustment.

Warrant of arrest for protection order

A warrant linked to a protection order that may allow arrest if the order is breached and the legal requirements for enforcement are met.

Controlling behaviour

A pattern of conduct in a domestic relationship that restricts a person's movement, choices, contact with others, money, communication, or daily life.

Discharge of maintenance order

A Maintenance Court process that ends an existing maintenance order where the legal and factual basis for ending it is proved.

Domestic violence safety monitoring notice

A domestic-violence process notice connected to monitoring safety risk, compliance, or protection steps after domestic-violence information reaches the justice system.

Electronic communications direction

A court-related direction that may be used to deal with abusive, threatening, or harassing electronic communication in a domestic-violence or protection-order process.

Family Counsellor

A professional in the Office of the Family Advocate who assists with enquiries and recommendations in child-related family-law disputes.

Foster care

A Children's Court-supervised placement where a child is placed in the care of a foster parent or suitable caregiver under the child-protection framework.

Harassment in domestic violence

Repeated or unwanted conduct in a domestic relationship that intimidates, threatens, follows, contacts, monitors, or causes fear or harm.

Laying-in expenses

Birth-related and pregnancy-related expenses that may be considered in a maintenance matter, especially where support connected to a child's birth is disputed.

Legal separation

A practical separation between spouses who remain legally married; in South Africa, divorce is the court process that legally ends the marriage.

Maintenance enquiry

A Maintenance Court enquiry into whether maintenance should be ordered, changed, enforced, suspended, or discharged based on the parties' circumstances.

Maintenance investigator

A maintenance-process official who gathers information about income, employment, residence, assets, payment history, or financial circumstances for a Maintenance Court matter.

Maintenance officer

A Maintenance Court official who receives, screens, investigates, and helps process maintenance complaints, enquiries, variation requests, and enforcement steps.

Maintenance warrant of execution

A Maintenance Court enforcement document that authorises attachment or execution steps to recover unpaid maintenance where the legal requirements are met.

Relocation with a child

A child-related family-law issue where moving a child may affect care, contact, guardianship, schooling, stability, or another parent's parental responsibilities and rights.

Respondent in domestic violence

The person against whom a domestic-violence protection order or related domestic-violence relief is sought.

Adoption

A Children's Court process that can create a permanent legal parent-child relationship between a child and adoptive parent or parents.

Annulment

A legal process that asks a court to declare that a marriage is void or voidable, rather than ending it by divorce.

Attachment of debts for maintenance

A maintenance-enforcement order that can attach money owed to the person who failed to comply with a maintenance order.

Attachment of emoluments for maintenance

A maintenance-enforcement order requiring deductions from salary, wages, or similar earnings to pay maintenance arrears or ongoing maintenance.

Child abduction

The wrongful removal or retention of a child, often across borders, in a way that may trigger urgent family-law, Children's Court, or Hague Convention steps.

Child and youth care centre

A registered residential care facility for children who need placement, care, protection, treatment, or developmental support under child-protection law.

Coercive behaviour

Controlling, threatening, pressuring, or intimidating conduct that restricts another person's choices or safety in a domestic or family context.

Complainant in domestic violence

The person who applies for protection or reports domestic violence under the domestic-violence protection framework.

Family Lawyer

Family Lawyer describes legal help linked to family law, including matters such as maintenance, parenting arrangements, and family disputes.

Family Law Client Document Pack

Divorce Lawyer

Divorce Lawyer describes legal help linked to family law, including matters such as divorce, settlement, and parenting and maintenance.

Related resources

Resources connected to this track

Browse resources

Checklist

Divorce Checklist

Preparation checklist for divorce process, settlement, parenting, and maintenance issues.

Maintenance Documents Checklist

Document pack for income, expenses, child costs, payment records, and maintenance court preparation.

Family Law Preparation Pack

Parenting Plan Preparation Pack

Preparation pack for care, contact, schooling, holidays, communication, and parenting-plan discussion points.

Family Law Lawyer Discovery Resource

Family Lawyer Guide Resource

Prepare to compare or brief a family lawyer by organising the family issue, urgent risks, court orders, parenting facts, financial records, and consultation questions.

Family Law Lawyer Discovery Resource

Family Lawyer Pretoria Discovery Resource

Compare Pretoria family-law help by issue type, court or maintenance route, documents, urgency, location, consultation questions, and fee clarity.

Family Law Preparation Pack

Divorce Lawyer Near Me Preparation Checklist

Prepare a divorce-law consultation by organising marriage documents, children, property, pension, debts, maintenance, settlement questions, and local lawyer comparison notes.