The relevant legislation which is applied when considering a spouse's maintenance claim is section 7 (2) of the Divorce Act 70 of 1979, which provides that a court that is granting decree of divorce may make a maintenance order in a favour of one of the spouses after taking into consideration the following factors:
The court will consider the above factors to determine what would be a 'just' award in the circumstances. Essentially these factors are taken into account to determine firstly whether maintenance is to be payable at all and secondly if so the amount to be paid each month and the period for which this maintenance is to be paid.
The court is granted a very wide discretion in that it may consider any other factor that it deems relevant as long as this discretion is exercised judicially in that it must be exercised according to established rules of law and practice.
When determining whether maintenance should be paid the following case law is considered:
When determining the amount of maintenance to be paid the following case law is considered: