THE SUPREME COURT OF APPEAL OF SOUTH AFRICA
JUDGMENT
Case No: 20334/2014
Reportable
In the matter between:
KLVC Appellant
and
SDI First Respondent
OFFICE OF THE FAMILY ADVOCATE Second Respondent
Neutral citation: KLVC v SDI (20334/2014) [2014] ZASCA 222 (12
December 2014)
Coram: Maya, Leach, Theron, Mbha JJA & Schoeman AJA
Heard: 28 November 2014
Delivered: 12 December 2014
Summary: Section 21(1)(b) of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 –
requirements that must be satisfied before an unmarried father can acquire
full parental rights and responsibilities, as envisaged by s 18 of the said Act,
in respect of his minor child met.
, 2
______________________________________________________________
ORDER
______________________________________________________________
On appeal from: the KwaZulu-Natal Local Division, Durban (Gabriel AJ sitting
as a court of first instance):
The appeal is dismissed with costs.
______________________________________________________________
JUDGMENT
______________________________________________________________
Mbha JA: (Maya, Leach, Theron JJA and Schoeman AJA concurring):
[1] The appellant and the first respondent are the biological parents of a
minor child S, a boy born in Durban, South Africa on 30 July 2012. The parties
were never married to each other, nor did they cohabit or live together in a
permanent life partnership. The first respondent has however at all material
times consented to being identified as the child’s father. On 28 November
2012, and whilst the first respondent was on a brief visit to the United States
of America, the appellant removed the child from Durban and relocated to
England without either informing or seeking permission from the first
respondent to do so. At the time the child was four months old.
[2] On 16 May 2013, the first respondent applied to the High Court of
Justice, Family Division of the United Kingdom (the English court), in terms of
the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction,
1980 (the Hague Convention), for an order directing the appellant to return S
to his habitual place of residence in Durban, South Africa. The basis of the
application was that the appellant had removed S from South Africa to
England in breach of the first respondent’s co-parental rights and
responsibilities by not seeking the first respondent’s approval before doing so.
JUDGMENT
Case No: 20334/2014
Reportable
In the matter between:
KLVC Appellant
and
SDI First Respondent
OFFICE OF THE FAMILY ADVOCATE Second Respondent
Neutral citation: KLVC v SDI (20334/2014) [2014] ZASCA 222 (12
December 2014)
Coram: Maya, Leach, Theron, Mbha JJA & Schoeman AJA
Heard: 28 November 2014
Delivered: 12 December 2014
Summary: Section 21(1)(b) of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 –
requirements that must be satisfied before an unmarried father can acquire
full parental rights and responsibilities, as envisaged by s 18 of the said Act,
in respect of his minor child met.
, 2
______________________________________________________________
ORDER
______________________________________________________________
On appeal from: the KwaZulu-Natal Local Division, Durban (Gabriel AJ sitting
as a court of first instance):
The appeal is dismissed with costs.
______________________________________________________________
JUDGMENT
______________________________________________________________
Mbha JA: (Maya, Leach, Theron JJA and Schoeman AJA concurring):
[1] The appellant and the first respondent are the biological parents of a
minor child S, a boy born in Durban, South Africa on 30 July 2012. The parties
were never married to each other, nor did they cohabit or live together in a
permanent life partnership. The first respondent has however at all material
times consented to being identified as the child’s father. On 28 November
2012, and whilst the first respondent was on a brief visit to the United States
of America, the appellant removed the child from Durban and relocated to
England without either informing or seeking permission from the first
respondent to do so. At the time the child was four months old.
[2] On 16 May 2013, the first respondent applied to the High Court of
Justice, Family Division of the United Kingdom (the English court), in terms of
the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction,
1980 (the Hague Convention), for an order directing the appellant to return S
to his habitual place of residence in Durban, South Africa. The basis of the
application was that the appellant had removed S from South Africa to
England in breach of the first respondent’s co-parental rights and
responsibilities by not seeking the first respondent’s approval before doing so.
