What is the average monthly child support payment in South Africa? And how do you claim support payments? The amount to pay for child maintenance each month is entirely dependent on the income of both the Father and Mother. Along with a number of other factors. We explore this in a bit more detail below.
How do they Calculate Child Maintenance in South Africa?
There are a number of factors to calculate how much money to pay in terms of maintenance in South Africa. Some of these factors include:
- The standard that the child or children was accustomed to whilst their parents were married or lived together
- The earning capacity of the parents
- The assets of the parents
The first factor is important as many parents neglect to pay for their child support payments. Therefore their children have to suffer as a result of it.
It is also important to note that if you were never married, your partner is still obliged to make maintenance payments.
This however does not seem to be the case with many South African men. As they neglect to make their payments to support their children.
So let me help you work out how much you can expect to pay or can expect from your former partner.
Average Monthly Child Support – Example 1
Say for example you are the proud parent of a 4 year old and both parents earn approximately R5000 a month each. You could estimate that in order to maintain the child each month, they each contribute a total of lets say R1600. Which pays for the child’s food, shelter, clothing, and pre-schooling.
Should for any reason the parents split up and the mother want to claim maintenance, then she could claim up to approximately R1200.
This is because the mother would have to find alternative accommodation and schooling etc. Therefore the portion that she would require to maintain the lifestyle of the child would need to be larger.
Average Monthly Child Support in South Africa – Example 2
If the parents of the same four year old child earn R100,000 a month each. The child has an aupair, own room, expensive schooling and clothing, medical aid. And a lot of other expenses which amount to approximately R25000 a month.
Then the same mother would be able to claim approximately R15 000 a month from the father.
This situation however will be even more complicated if the mother for example has assets to her name that are in the millions. And the father owns only a car worth R100000.
Then the father’s maintenance contribution would amount to much less than the mothers.
This may also interest you: When does Child Maintenance Stop in South Africa?
Claiming Monthly Maintenance in South Africa
It is important to note that the information in this article is purely an explanation. Therefore if you are in the process of getting a divorce. Or want to claim maintenance from a former partner for your child or children. Then the best advice I can give you is to consult with a lawyer.
There are lawyers that specialize in maintenance law in South Africa. Therefore they would be the best person to seek advice from.
However if you just want to get a feel of what the average monthly child support payment is, there’s one main important thing that you should think about. That is the child or children’s welfare and what is in their best interest.
Once both parties have agreed upon this fact, it should make the maintenance process more simple and hopefully a lot less stressful.
This may interest you: https://www.gov.za/documents/maintenance-act
In Conclusion
As you can see, there are a number of factors that you need to consider. And if you are not able to come to an agreement with your former partner in terms of how much is expected from both of you, then you will have to seek the advise of a lawyer.
If no monthly maintenance payment agreement between Father and Mother can be made, then you will have to go to maintenance court. So they will decide upon the amounts that each parent has to contribute.