Good day kindly please assist me with le...

Asked by Natalie on 02-02-2021 15:37:59
Question posted in the Family Law category relating to Gauteng

Good day kindly please assist me with legal advice.

I have an ongoing maintenance case with the father of my daughter for 6 years.

A court order was granted and he only paid for 6 months, 4 years ago.

Now I want to find out that if he is to die today, my daughter is not listed as a beneficiary in any of his wealth and properties, He is married with two older kids who are also married and living their lives elsewhere.

If he lives his wife as the beneficiary, is there a way I can claim from her, or is there a way my daughter will be able to benefit from his wealth?

My daughter is 7 years old and she lives with me.

Answer to the Question

Posted by Att. Patrick on 03-02-2021 21:12:36

Hi there,

I see that you haven't made a payment for the question, but I'm going to assist you a little. If you want to ask a follow-up question, please make the required payment.

A duty to pay maintenance starts when a child is born and ends when a child is 18 years old or self-supporting and both parents are responsible to maintain their children according their respective means and financial positions.

The duty to maintain a child continues even after the death of a parent.

A child under the age of 18 can lodge a claim for maintenance against the deceased parent’s estate or if there is already a maintenance order against the deceased parent it will also become binding on his/her estate until the child reaches the age of 18 or becomes self-supporting.

A child above the age of 18 who is not self supporing can also claim against a deceased parent’s estate but will have to prove the following:

1. That he/she does in fact require support;

2. The amount of the support needed.

A claim for maintenance in respect of a child is preferent to all the other claims against the deceased parent’s estate including claims from heirs. The only exception is debts owed by the estate.

Att. Patrick 

Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow-up questions please make the required payment, then use the REPLY button and ask your further question. I would like to continue assisting you, but I need to concentrate on people who make payments for their questions.

If you would like to view the entire answer, you will need to either login or register a FREE account.

Disclaimer

DISCLAIMER: Advice or answers from Lawyers on SA Legal Advice are not substitutes for the proper advice of an Lawyer. SA Legal Advice is a public forum and questions and responses are not private or confidential or protected by the attorney-client privilege. The Lawyer who assists with your question is not your Lawyer, and the response above is not to be considered to be legal advice. You should not read this response to propose specific action or address specific circumstances, but only to give you a sense of general principles of law that might affect the situation you describe. Application of these general principles to particular circumstances must be done by a lawyer who has spoken with you in confidence, learned all relevant information, and explored various options. Before acting on these general principles, you should hire a lawyer licensed to practice law in the jurisdiction to which your question pertains. The responses above are from individual Lawyers, not SA Legal Advice. The site and services are provided “as is”. This site is not for emergency questions which should be directed immediately by telephone or in-person to qualified professionals. Please carefully read the Terms of Service.