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The need for a flexible and discretionary system of marital property distribution in the South African law of divorce

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dc.contributor.advisor De Jong, Madelene, 1963-
dc.contributor.author Lowndes, Gillian Claire
dc.date.accessioned 2015-07-15T09:08:50Z
dc.date.available 2015-07-15T09:08:50Z
dc.date.issued 2014-11
dc.identifier.citation Lowndes, Gillian Claire (2014) The need for a flexible and discretionary system of marital property distribution in the South African law of divorce, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/18819> en
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10500/18819
dc.description.abstract Substantive gender equality has yet to be achieved in South Africa. As such, when a decision is made for one of the spouses to a civil marriage to stay at home and care for the children born of the marriage, or make career sacrifices to care for children, that spouse is usually the wife. As a result, while the husband continues to amass wealth and grow his earning potential, the wife is unable to do so. In circumstances where such spouses are married out of community of property or subject to the accrual system with onerous exclusion clauses in the antenuptial contract, the wife may be left with little more than a claim for rehabilitative maintenance in the event of a divorce. The courts only have the discretion to make an equitable distribution of marital property in civil marriages with complete separation of property concluded prior to 1 November 1984 (or 2 December 1988) and customary marriages. It is arguable that this limitation of the judicial discretion violates the equality clause contained in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. A broad judicial discretion to equitably redistribute the spouses’ assets upon divorce is therefore proposed in this dissertation. en
dc.format.extent 1 online resource (59 leaves)
dc.language.iso en en
dc.subject Matrimonial property regime en
dc.subject Marriage in community of property en
dc.subject Marriage out of community of property en
dc.subject Accrual system en
dc.subject Antenuptial contract en
dc.subject Family contract en
dc.subject Dissolution of marriage en
dc.subject Spousal equality en
dc.subject Substantive equality en
dc.subject Formal equality en
dc.subject Differentiation en
dc.subject Discrimination en
dc.subject Gender-stereotypical expectations en
dc.subject Public-private dichotomy en
dc.subject Pension interest en
dc.subject Pension sharing en
dc.subject Clean-break principle en
dc.subject Judicial discretion upon divorce en
dc.subject Maintenance en
dc.subject Forfeiture of assets en
dc.subject Equitable distribution en
dc.subject Law commission en
dc.subject Financial need en
dc.subject Prenuptial agreement en
dc.subject Qualifying nuptial agreement en
dc.subject.ddc 346.1664068
dc.subject.lcsh Marital property -- South Africa en
dc.subject.lcsh Equitable distribution of marital property -- South Africa en
dc.subject.lcsh Alimony -- South Africa en
dc.subject.lcsh Divorce settlements -- South Africa en
dc.subject.lcsh Divorce -- Law and legislation -- South Africa en
dc.subject.lcsh Judicial discretion -- South Africa en
dc.title The need for a flexible and discretionary system of marital property distribution in the South African law of divorce en
dc.type Dissertation en
dc.description.department Private Law
dc.description.degree LL. M.


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