Hope Chuene Attorneys Incorporated
Get Started Today
Contact Us for A consultation
justice@hopechueneattorneys.co.za
(+27) 66 487 1650
53 Landros Mare Street
NBS Building
4th Floor, Suit 409
Polokwane
0700
Civil Marriage Nullified in Favour of Customary Marriage
HOPE CHUENE ATTORNEYS INC has successfully argued in a landmark Case Number 10756/2023 pertaining to customary marriage entered into before the coming into effect of the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act 120 of 1998 by the Applicant and the now Deceased spouse and still subsists at the time the Deceased spouse contracted a Civil marriage with the 1 st Respondent.
The Applicant was interrupted in her marriage with the Deceased spouse, and subsequently left the matrimonial home jointly owned by herself and her spouse for a protracted period of more or less 29 years, The deceased and the 1 respondent stayed together for a more or less the same period of time.. The Respondent’s version was that the period the Deceased and the 1st Respondent stayed together with the exclusion of the Applicant justifies and validates their Civil Marriage.
The legal Representative of the Respondent further argued that the Recognition of Customary Marriage Act was not in came into effect long after the customary marriage between the Applicant and the Deceased was entered into and therefore is not applicable as it cannot be applied retrospectively.
HOPE CHUENE ATTORNEYS
In consequent, the court held that the Civil Marriage entered into by the
Deceased and the Respondent was invalid and therefore nullified ab initio and the Customary Marriage was declared a recognised marriage and therefore valid.
The court order was granted in favour of the Applicant customary wife legally represented by HOPE CHUENE ATTORNEYS INC in the Limpopo Division of the High Court of South Africa, declaring the customary marriage valid and ordering the Department of Home Affairs to register the marriage accordingly and issue the Applicant with a marriage certificate, further that the Letter of Executorship issued to the invalid Civil Marriage partner by the Master of the High Court be set aside and same be issued to the Customary marriage wife.
Legally representing the Applicant, HOPE CHUENE ATTORNEYS INC argued that the customary marriage between the Applicant and the Deceased spouse still subsist on the basis that the marriage was never terminated by divorce and that there was no decree of divorce issued to that effect by a competent court as required by section 8(1) the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act.
Civil Claims
Criminal Defense
Labour Law
Divorce
Debt Collection
Drafting of Wills
Deceased Estate
Road Acident Claims
Our Philosophy
Hope Chuene Attorneys in Polokwane
The philosophy of the HOPE CHUENE ATTORNEYS INC is to restore hope in the justice system to the clientele of the company in their pursuit of justice through their legal suit. My capacity and capability, enthusiasm, and passion for legal practice became the source of the object of desirous to share through the provision of legal services the philosophy about working with clients in the legal sphere. The firm is led by a Director who is a zealous Attorney eager to provide compassionate legal counsel to deserving clients in law.