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FAMILY LAW: SALRC PUBLISHES ‘CARE & CONTACT WITH CHILDREN’ REPORT
- 11 November 2025
- Justice & Constitutional Development
- SA Legal Academy
The South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC) has published a report on alternative dispute resolution in family matters, focusing on ‘care and contact with children’. Submitted to Justice & Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi in December 2024, the report outlines an ‘integrated approach to family law dispute resolution’ – recommending a process intended to minimise family conflict, ‘particularly in respect of the dissolution of the relationship between parents’.
This is according to an accompanying media statement, which among other things notes:
- the ‘unnecessary financial strain’ imposed by a ‘litigious approach’ to resolving family disputes, and
- the detrimental effect on children of a protracted, adversarial or combative relationship dissolution process.
Recommendations in the report are in line with government’s goal of ‘providing an effective, timely legal solution within a democratic, accessible, affordable and respected legal system’. They include a draft Bill underpinned by four alternative dispute resolution mechanisms:
- family mediation
- collaborative family practice
- family arbitration, and
- parenting co-ordination.
The process of preparing this report (now concluded) should not be confused with the SALRC’s work on determining the need for ‘a generic mediation statute’ focusing on commercial, civil and community mediation. In that regard, a discussion paper was released in January 2025 for public comment – as SA Legal Academy reported at the time.
- report on alternative dispute resolution in family matters
- media statement with executive summary
- SA Legal Academy report on ‘generic mediation statute’ discussion document
Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch
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