Question posted in the Family Law category relating to Western Cape
I have been divorced now for 10 years. Our divorce settlement states that my x husband has to pay school fees, a study policy that we took out when our child was born and medical aid.
My son Henry, is now 12 years old.
He lives 50% of the time with me, and 50% of the time with his dad.
My x also gives my a R3000 a month towards expenses.
My issue is - My x has not paid their medical aid, and this means my son is not on a medical aid as per the divorce settlement. As far as I am aware it's been about 10months now that he's not paying medical aid. When I confronted him about it - he said he doesn't have money to pay for the medical aid.
Please advise what is my rights? Thank you
Nelia
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Your rights are to insist that he complies with the Court Order which granted your divorce and which set out the terms of his maintenance obligations, etc, etc.
If he does not comply with the Court Order, then technically he is in breach of the Court Order and he could be held in contempt of court. This would however require a further application to court to hold him in contempt.
A court would actually insist that he goes so far as to sell assets so that he can continue with his obligations, like medical aid.
Another option would be to apply to the maintenance court to vary the terms of the Court Order so that your ex doesn't pay the medical aid himself, but rather that the monthly maintenance amount be increased by an amount equal to the medical aid costs, and you then get your son medical aid yourself.
The advantage of this is that if your ex doesn't pay, then you can simply get a warrant of execution issued so the sheriff can attach his assets and sell them by auction ... so you can be paid.
At present, you would need a court to hold him in contempt because he isn't paying the medical aid. Getting a warrant of execution won't help, because how can the sheriff make your ex pay the medical aid?