Lecture 11 Cases

Question 1

Visser v Potgieter

Answer 1

1) This case provides that divorce law exists to regulate divorce and its consequences. It does not exist to keep marriages alive or to motivate divorce.
2) It is purely procedural in nature and provides a legal avenue.

Question 2

Women’s Legal Centre Trust

Answer 2

1) Divorce Act also applies to Muslim marriages concluded in terms of Sharia law at 15 December 2014, and where
legal proceedings have been instituted but not completed.

Question 3

Schwartz v Schwartz
Naidoo v Naidoo
Swart v Swart
Coetzee v Coetzee

Answer 3

Irretrievable Breakdown

Question 4

Dickinson v Dickinson

Answer 4

1) only requirement is to prove irretrievable
breakdown of the marriage, regardless of the cause.
2) Mental illness can serve as an objective fact
3) This would by implication render section 5 meaningless

Question 5

Smit v Smit

Answer 5

1) A plaintiff is not free to circumvent, by his choice of procedure, the protective measures created for the mentally ill
and unconscious.
2) Thus, section 4 can only be used to prove
irretrievable breakdown where a different state of illness is at play

Question 6

Amar v Amar

Answer 6

The court did not refuse the divorce but ordered payment of maintenance until such time as the marriage was terminated in accordance with religious values