This EBOOK contains the entire year's summary of the family law course at the university of Witwatersrand. I received a distinction and graduated cum laude.
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, Family is a difficult concept to define, but it is important that the law determines the groups of people
which can be defined as families. This is based on the scope of the state’s interest in personal relationships.
TYPES OF FAMILIES
Sexual Family v Shared Commitment Family
• When we think about families, we usually think about husbands and wives and the children they produce.
• Is the core of a family a sexual relationship? What criteria is used to define a group as a family? ‘Family’ is
usually based on a sexual tie of some kind. Therefore friends sharing a flat falls beyond its scope.
• Fineman considers the ‘Mother-Child relationship/Dyad’ to be the central idea of family. This is a symbol of
inevitable dependency, which can be seen as the definition of a family.
• Other opinions mirror this, stating that the definition of family should move beyond a spousal (sexual)
relationship and focus on emotional and economic dependency. However, this is problematic as a group of
friends living together can be defined as a family.
• Other factors which could contribute to the definition are a shared household, commitment and care.
• Family law focuses on maintenance and property distribution.
Single Parents
• 23% of South African children live with both biological parents.
• 41% live with their mothers and not with their fathers.
• 3% live with their fathers and not with their mothers.
It is common for children to be born to single mothers or for their fathers to leave home after the child is born.
Therefore, it is more likely for children to live apart from their fathers than with them, either because their fathers
are living elsewhere or are deceased. Often, the death of the mother forces single-father families to form. In
many of these cases the children are passed on to females in their extended family to care for them, when their
mother is no longer around (Eg. grandmother). Most children grow up in extended- family households.
Extended Families
• It is common for children to live in a home with an adult who is not their biological parent.
• Often, grandmothers and aunts (other female relatives) are involved in raising children when their mother is
no longer around or does not reside with them.
• This is a result of labour migration (both parents) and AIDS.
• More than 20% of South African children are orphans.
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