PVL2601: ASSIGNMENT 2 2024/1

Question 1

(a) Define a void marriage and a voidable marriage.

(2)

(b) Read the following scenarios and indicate whether each of the marriages is void
or voidable. You must briefly explain your answer:

(i) Bobby and Martha married three years ago. At the time of their wedding,
Martha was pregnant with Robby’s child. The child, Lulu, was born six
months after the wedding. Last week, Bobby discovered that he is not
Lulu’s biological father. He tells Martha that he would never have married
her had he known that she was pregnant with another man’s child.
(2)

(ii) Themba, a competent marriage officer, solemnises the marriage

between Katlego and Kris. Katlego’s brother is the only other person who
is present at the wedding.
(2)

(iii) For the past ten years, Ben has known that he is sterile. As Mary
repeatedly told Ben that she wanted children, Ben feared that Mary
would not want to marry him if he told her about his sterility. He informed
Mary of his sterility last week, when she complained about the fact that,
a year after they got married, she still had not fallen pregnant. Mary
immediately told Ben that she would never have married him had she
known that he was sterile.
(2)

(iv) 14-year-old Lerato and 19-year-old Thato conclude a marriage without

the consent of their parents or any other person.
(2)
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Question 2

Mr and Mrs XY have been married in community of property for 18 years. Mr XY is

unemployed and is financially dependent on Mrs XY. In the past, Mrs XY gave Mr XY
R15 000 per month to spend on his personal needs. Mr XY has a girlfriend that he has
been seeing for the last six months. Upon discovering the affair, Mrs XY chased Mr
XY out of their rental property and filed for divorce. In the summons, Mrs XY requests
equal division of the joint estate, which consists only of household assets and debts.
In his counterclaim, Mr XY pleads that he is an adult of 67 years and has been solely
dependent on Mrs XY. He requests maintenance in the amount of R15 000 per month
until remarriage or death. In her response to Mr XY’s counterclaim, Mrs XY pleads that
Mr XY has automatically forfeited his right to claim maintenance because their
marriage is being terminated, he is the cause of the termination, and he has moved in
with his girlfriend and is in a life partnership with his girlfriend.

With reference to legislation and case law, advise Mrs XY whether she is correct that
Mr XY has automatically forfeited his right to claim maintenance due to the reasons
she pleaded in her response to Mr XY’s counterclaim.

Very important: Your answer to the question will be evaluated according to the
following marking rubric:

Evaluation criteria Not yet Partially Achieved

achieved achieved
1. Identify the problem. 0 0.5 1
2. Discussing the relevant 0 1-6 7
law applicable to the
problem referring to
authority, acknowledging
sources and avoiding
plagiarism
3. Applying the law to the 0 0.5 1
facts of the problem
4. Language, use of 0 0.5 1
tenses/syntax and
formulation

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