Divorce Act, 1979/1998-04-06

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as amended by

Matrimonial Property Act, No. 88 of 1984 Transfer of Powers and Duties of the State President Act, No. 97 of 1986 Mediation in Certain Divorce Matters Act, No. 24 of 1987 Marriage and Matrimonial Property Law Amendment Act, No. 2 of 1988 Divorce Amendment Act, No. 7 of 1989 Divorce Amendment Act, No. 44 of 1992 Domicile Act, No. 3 of 1992 Divorce Amendment Act, No. 95 of 1996 Justice Laws Rationalisation Act, No. 18 of 1996 Divorce Courts Amendment Act, No. 65 of 1997

E IT ENACTED by the State President, the Senate and the House of Assembly of the Republic of South Africa, as follows:―

1. (1) In this Act, unless inconsistent with the context— “court” means any High Court as contemplated in section 166 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act No. 108 of 1996), or a divorce court established under section 10 of the Administration Amendment Act, 1929 (Act No. 9 of 1929), which has jurisdiction with respect to a divorce action;

“divorce action” means an action by which a decree of divorce or other relief in connection therewith is applied for, and includes—

an application pendente lite for an interdict or for the interim custody of, or access to, a minor child of the marriage concerned or for the payment of maintenance; or an application for a contribution towards the costs of such action or to institute such action, or make such application, in forma pauperis, or for the substituted service of process in, or the edictal citation of a party to, such action or such application;

“pension fund” means a pension fund as defined in section 1 (1) of the Pension Funds Act, 1956 (Act No. 24 of 1956), irrespective of whether the provisions of that Act apply to the pension fund or not;

“pension interest”, in relation to a party to a divorce action who—

is a member of a pension fund (excluding a retirement annuity fund), means the benefits to which that party as such a member would have been entitled in terms of the rules of that fund if his membership of the fund would have been terminated on the date of the divorce on account of his resignation from his office; is a member of a retirement annuity fund which was bona fide established for the purpose of providing life annuities for the members of the fund, and which is a pension fund, means the total amount of that party’s contributions to the fund up to the date of the divorce, together with a total amount of annual simple interest on those contributions up to that date, calculated at the same rate as the rate prescribed as at that date by the Minister of Justice in terms of section 1 (2) of the Prescribed Rate of Interest Act, 1975 (Act No. 55 of 1975), for the purposes of that Act;

“rules”, in relation to a pension fund, means rules as defined in section 1 (1) of the Pension Funds Act, 1956.

(2) For the purposes of this Act a divorce action shall be deemed to be instituted on the date on which the summons is issued or the notice of motion is filed or the notice is delivered in terms of the rules of court, as the case may be.