SA Court Rules That Maintenance Orders Will Only Prescribe After 30 Years

Partners and children who struggle to enforce maintenance orders can take comfort from the fact that if a consent paper is signed and it is made an order of court, they will have 30 years to enforce the claim for maintenance.

In Simon Roy Arcus v Jill Henree Arcus, the Supreme Court of Appeal ("SCA") heard an appeal against a Western Cape High Court judgment. In 1993, a maintenance consent paper was made an order of court during divorce proceedings between Simon Roy Arcus and Jill Henree Arcus. In terms of the consent paper, Mr Arcus was required to pay Ms Arcus and their two minor daughters maintenance until the daughters were self-supporting and Ms Arcus either remarried or died.