[D101] LEGAL GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE IN SOUTH AFRICA - EXPLAINED BY DIVORCE ATTORNEY - - YouTube

I'm Aslam Moolla and I am a registered attorney and in today's  video we're going to be covering what are the  

three legal grounds to get a divorce in South  Africa? We're going to go through each ground  

in detail and what you need to prove in order  to successfully get your divorce. So let's get  

started with it. There are three legal grounds in  South Africa to get your divorce. The first one is  

mental illness of your spouse and a lot of people  are going to be saying yes Aslam, that's the one,  

that's the ground we need to prove. My partner is  insane and I want to divorce. It is a bit different  

from what you think it is and the second is  continuous unconsciousness of your partner and the  

last is irretrievable breakdown of the marriage.  Let's look at each of these three grounds in a bit  

more detail so that we can understand it. The most  common from the three is irretrievable breakdown  

of the marriage. This is, I would say maybe about 95 % of divorces in South Africa are caused by  

irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. That's the  most commonly used ground. What do I mean by that  

and this particular ground, irretrievable breakdown?  Remember there's three grounds mental illness,  

continuous unconsciousness and irretrievable  breakdown. We talking about irretrievable breakdown.  

Under irretrievable breakdown, South Africa has a  no fault divorce system. This means that a person  

can file for divorce without having to prove that  the other person which is the spouse did something  

wrong, for example if they cheated or whatever, it  is there's no fault that's required for you to get  

a divorce in South Africa. You don't have to prove  anything, all you have to do is show the judge  

that there is no reasonable prospect of your  relationship continuing. The legal term for this  

is called irretrievable breakdown of the marriage.  Examples of what are irretrievable breakdown  

of the marriage: emotional abuse, physical abuse,  verbal abuse, if the other partner has an addiction  

problem like drugs alcohol or gambling, if the  parties are no longer in love with each other. 

These are commonly used examples for getting  your divorce in terms of irretrievable breakdown.  

It doesn't mean that you must now  prove to the court that your partner  

actually has an addiction problem, if you have  reasonable belief that they do have that and  

you believe that the relationship cannot continue,  you genuinely believe that and that divorce is the  

only option left, then you can rely on this ground  of irretrievable breakdown. It can also be a lack  

of communication between husband and wife or you  no longer staying together and there is longer love.  

So, in summary, with regard to this ground  of irretrievable breakdown, it is the most commonly  

used ground. It doesn't require any fault from the  other party and you just believe that there's just  

no hope of the relationship continuing. Let's look  at the other two grounds which was mental illness  

and continuous unconsciousness. With regard to  mental illness, you have to if you're going to rely  

on this ground of mental illness then you must  show that your partner was officially admitted  

into a mental institution and that they have  been mentally ill for quite a long period of time.  

You also need evidence to show maybe from  two psychiatrists, who can tell the court  

that your partner is officially insane or not well  or they're not capable of making proper decisions.  

It is a very high hurdle to overcome that's why I  don't advise my clients to take that route. You'd  

rather take the route of irretrievable  breakdown of the marriage. The other one  

is continuous unconsciousness, that was the other  legal ground you will have to also prove here that  

your partner has been unconscious for a period  of at least six months and medical evidence from  

two doctors must show that there's no reasonable  prospect of your partner regaining consciousness.  

As you can see mental illness and continuous  unconsciousness have specific hurdles that need  

to be overcome whereas the ground of irretrievable  breakdown, no fault is required, no real proof  

is required. All you have to do is show the  relationship has no prospect of continuing,  

it's just broken down completely. So the key  takeaway from this video is in South Africa  

we have a no fault based system, you can  get a divorce without having to prove  

the other party has done something wrong. You  can get a divorce on the basis of irretrievable  

breakdown of the marriage relationship where  you believe there's no hope of the relationship  

continuing. To actually get your divorce it's best  that you go to the Regional Magistrates Court, it's  

a much more faster process than the High Court,  we've done a video on which court to go please  

check our YouTube channel for a video on that. If  you need legal if you need help with the legal  

paperwork or just advice on the divorce process  you're more than welcome to click the link below  

and book an appointment with our office. I wish  you all the best and I'll speak to you soon