top of page
Search
administration9514

Family: Court sides with mother's move with her child

A Durban mother has been granted permission to relocate to Cape Town with her two-year-old daughter despite opposition from the child’s father who, the judge labelled as being egocentric and driven by his own interests, reports TimesLIVE. KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) Judge Rob Mossop said the mother, a domestic underwriter who had been offered a promotion on condition that she move, was entitled to a career and a life of her own – something the father refused to acknowledge. The couple never married and broke up when the child was about 14 months old. At that time, they concluded a parenting plan giving the mother primary residence and the father generous access.


However, it contained a non-relocation clause stating neither could move from KZN or SA without the written consent of the other. In her urgent application which came before Mossop on Monday, the woman said while the child’s father paid her R9 000 a month maintenance, she was still not able to make ends meet and was subsidized by her parents, who were also now planning to move to Cape Town. The promotion, which would add R7 000 a month to her salary, was difficult to turn down and would be a significant change to her economic reality.


However, the father accused her of reneging on the parenting plan. In a letter, his lawyers said he would not give his written consent, that the child had a close bond with his family and his two children from a previous relationship and proposed that the child live primarily with him if the mother insisted on moving. Mossop said this proposal ignored the bond such a young child had with her mother, reports TimesLIVE. He said he discerned indications the father was not truly motivated by what was in the best interests of his daughter but rather by what was in his best interests.


‘In my view, the relocation is reasonable, and it is in the best interest of the child that she accompanies her mother in that move, subject to the respondent’s rights of access being preserved as best they can in the changed circumstances.’ He granted the mother permission to relocate and set out access arrangements for the father, including direct access if he is in Cape Town, video contact every day and that the mother bring the child to Durban for a long weekend at least once a year.

3 views0 comments

Comments


bottom of page