by Wessels + Van Zyl Inc | Jan 27, 2026 | Family Law, Property
“All you need is love… and a good lawyer.” (Anonymous) February, with its Valentine’s Day chocolates, roses and declarations of undying love, should be a month for romance, not legal niceties. But in the real world, love and the law are inextricably linked because any...
by Wessels + Van Zyl Inc | Jan 6, 2026 | Family Law
“For what is wedlock forced but a hell, An age of discord and continual strife?” (William Shakespeare in Henry VI Part I) This article is a balm for anyone unfortunate enough to be stuck in an unhappy marriage full of Shakespeare’s “discord and continual strife”, yet...
by Wessels + Van Zyl Inc | Oct 28, 2025 | Family Law
“A family name holds the music of generations – it’s the first inheritance we receive.” (Attributed to Irish poet-philosopher John O’Donohue) The Constitutional Court has just confirmed (with some significant adjustments) last year’s High Court ruling that both...
by Wessels + Van Zyl Inc | Sep 25, 2025 | Family Law
“This [the Stalingrad Strategy] is a strategy of wearing down the plaintiff by tenaciously fighting anything the plaintiff presents by whatever means possible and appealing every ruling favourable to the plaintiff. Here, the defendant does not present a...
by Wessels + Van Zyl Inc | Jul 28, 2025 | Family Law
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” (C.S. Lewis) Divorce is traumatic, to the extent that it’s widely considered to be the second most stressful life event (behind only the death of a spouse, and...
by Wessels + Van Zyl Inc | May 27, 2025 | Family Law
“Grandparents, like heroes, are as necessary to a child’s growth as vitamins.” (Quoted in the judgment below) One of the greatest tragedies of family fall-outs will always be the effect they have on the children involved. A recent High Court fight over a granny’s...
