June 2015 - Ivan Zartz Attorneys

29 Jun

Mothers Have A Distinct Advantage For Children’s Primary Residence

Although the new Children’s Act provides for estranged mothers and fathers to have equal parental responsibilities and rights in the bringing up of their minor children, mothers are at a distinct advantage when it comes to primary residence of the minor child/children and where they should reside permanently once there is a divorce or separation.

Although there have been decided cases in which our judges have stated that the word “mothering” can apply equally to a father, in the majority of cases when parents split up, it is the mother with whom the minor child/children lives and not the father.

I have seen many cases where the father is by far the better parent but because on separation the minor child/children has lived with the mother, and has continued to do so for a period of time, the child is left in the mother’s place of residence permanently. This sometimes contradicts conditions whereby the father provides the better environment in which the child can develop.

It is difficult for a father to obtain primary residence of a minor child/children. How is it that when a father refuses to return a child to a mother for good reason, such as for example the mother being a serious manic depressive, that the father is considered in breach of the custody agreement? The father has to fight an action for primary residence from behind because initially, the child/children will be returned to the mother yet it seems fathers are at a distinct disadvantage on separation of retaining primary residence and obviously the longer the minor child /children live with the mother, the more difficult are his chances of ever having the minor child/children live with him.

22 Jun

Getting What You Are Due!

Are you due payment from companies or close corporations that have not paid their debts? Have you demanded payment from these companies? Has their response surmounted to the undisputed claim that they do not have the funds available to pay for these debts? What are you to do next? Fortunately Ivan Zartz Attorneys have a cunning way of ensuring that you are hastily paid the monies that are long overdue. This obviously depends if you do not wait too long to recover the outstanding debt.

“PS: Thanks for the invoice! You can wait your turn like the rest”

Liquidation

Ivan Zartz has a method of applying pressure on a debtor that often invokes their ability to pay monies due to you. Proceedings begin by applying to court a ‘liquidation application’ against the company in question. Although this method may put an end to the business relationship, it does produce incredibly fast results. No company will want to go through the liquidation process, whereby the business may effectively be closed down. In most cases the threat of closure forces companies or CCs to pay the monies owed.

The success of this method of debt collection relies on a few important factors. Firstly, the creditor must ensure that there is no way in which the company can dispute the amount of monies owed. Any dispute will allow the organisation the legal room needed to defend a claim. For there to be an undisputed claim the creditor needs to ensure that all paperwork is accurate and up-to-date according to regulation, there are no outstanding queries regarding the delivery of services and goods, and that there has been either admission of the inability to pay the debt or there has been no response after the delivery of notice.

Invest In The Ivan Zartz Method!

Ensuring that you invest in Ivan Zartz’s method of debt collection is of the utmost importance for either a company or individual creditor. There are a number of reasons as to why you should follow the liquidation application process:

Ensure that you are paid out first: In the case whereby the debtor is in fact under threat of liquidation, the process whereby claims are settled often occurs on a “first come, first serve” basis. That means if you have not been proactive in the legal procedural sense of trying to reclaim your monies due, then you are likely to be paid out far too late and far too little.
Don’t waste your money: The liquidation application process is more expensive than issuing a summons to recover monies, but in Ivan Zartz Attorneys’ experience, debtors often wriggle out of summonses by entering appearances to defend for technical or ‘bad-faith’ reasons. This often means that creditors wait years and years for their money. Ivan Zartz Attorneys charges a once-off fee of 10%. This covers disbursements for the sheriff and other minor fees. When one compares this to the costs of fighting an action over several years, these costs are minimal. A once off invoice is provided by Ivan Zartz Attorneys, whereby in the case of protracted litigation, invoices are rendered by attorneys almost on a monthly basis. In this case the creditor never knows what provision to make for legal costs.
Resigning Sureties: Sureties can either be created or restructured once the threat of liquidation has been made. The ‘shock’ of your liquidation application will coerce the debtor into resigning sureties and allow them to renegotiate the schedule of installments if necessary.

The method of liquidation is often considered an aggressive form of debt collection practice, but we believe that the only aggrieved party in the case of unpaid debts is often the creditor. Contact Ivan Zartz Attorneys to find out how you can get what is due to you!

17 Jun

Emergency Child Custody

Unfortunately there are situations and cases whereby the well-being of a child is put in jeopardy. Children of a divorced or separated couple are already vulnerable to emotional trauma, but sometimes a parent, or both parents, can cause a child serious emotional or physical harm. In these cases the other parent, or a caring third-party, might recognize these abuses. Fortunately the ability to secure emergency child custody is a possibility.

What is Emergency Child Custody?

Emergency Child Custody is the courts decision to temporarily change the custody agreement of a child due to outstanding circumstances. This can be when one of the guardians does not fulfill his/her obligations or is directly abusing the child either physically or emotionally. Temporary ‘care’ of the child will either be taken solely by one of the parents in a co-guardian agreement, or will be taken by a family member, a person who cares for the child, or a registered home in the case of a sole-guardian agreement.

When is Emergency Custody Needed

Emergency Child Custody is almost always ensured when there are cases of physical or sexual abuse. The difficulty exists when trying to define the parameters of these abuses. It must be understood that corporal punishment ie. spanking, is also considered abusive. The parameters of sexual abuse is pretty clear, outlined and defined by South African law and can be further read in both the 2005 Children’s Act and the Sexual Offences section of South African Criminal Law.

Emergency Custody may be used when there is a case of child neglect or maltreatment. A child may also be taken from his immediate guardian if there are circumstances that may lead to the serious harming of a child’s being, physical, mental and social. All of the reasons for allowing emergency custody are laid out in Chapter 9 of the Children’s Act.

The Emergency Custody Process

It must be understood that by no means should a co-guardian or carer of the child take the child away from its place of residence, or institute their own measures of removing a child from potentially harmful circumstances. If this is done, then they will be expected to provide proof of neglect, abuse and maltreatment to the court. If they are found to be acting outside of the courts rules then they may face serious repercussions. A parent, guardian, caregiver and/or family friend must notify either the police or a social worker to attend the matter whereby it is their decision as to whom the child should be left with.

A parent, guardian, caregiver and/or friend can bring the matter to court directly without approaching the police or social worker, and, where proof of abuse or neglect is provided, the court may issue the order of emergency custody. Only then may a parent, guardian, caregiver and/or friend remove the child from their present unhealthy environment. In all cases the court will make its decision based on ‘the best interest of the child’ policy.

For any more information regarding child custody, and/or a host of other legal associated queries, contact Ivan Zartz Attorneys today.

15 Jun

Amendments To The National Credit Act

Last year saw a few amendments to the National Credit Act in South Africa. Were you aware? Do you have an idea as to what it means to you, the consumer? You need to make sure that you know where you stand with regards to the Act so that you are not abused by any financial institution or creditor.

Blacklist and Smearing Protection

When you are unable to pay debts, either because of lack of funds or otherwise, then you can expect to be blacklisted. This term is denoted ‘bad credit’ because of the inability to repay monies owed over an adversely long period of time. However, the new act prevents there from being recorded credit history once a party has paid back all monies due. This is good news for consumers that have been blacklisted in the past, bad news for creditors who have no way of checking credit-worthiness.

Clearance

Debtors have gone to great lengths in order to obtain credit clearance. In order to get clearance an individual had to have zero outstanding debt, even that of a long-term mortgage. Now clearance can be obtained if your only outstanding debt is that of a mortgage. In this case, threats against the individual concerning “credit history” and clearance no longer apply.

Affordability Assessment Regulations

The NCA has put in place a set of regulations that disallows creditors from giving credit to those who cannot afford to pay back monies owed over the regulated time. A creditor can choose to extend credit and implement agreements only if they fall within the boundaries set by the Affordability Assessment Regulations.

Delivery Of Notice

A court notice concerning the debt owed by an individual or organisation must be delivered to the person directly, and notice will require a signature for proof of delivery purposes. This will stop debtors from being taken to court and/or being blacklisted without having prior knowledge of notice.

All of the following amendments have been put in place to further protect the debtor from abusive credit providers. However, these amendments also mean that creditors who stay within regulation, and carry out the appropriate methods of granting credit, have improved stead when it comes to being considered good credit providers.

Make sure that you know your rights concerning debt/credit and the debt collection process. For more information on debt collection and/or defended actions, contact Ivan Zartz Attorneys.

10 Jun

Fraud Within Debt Collection Practice

The debt collection practice in South Africa is fraught with fraud. Unfortunately there is a whole host of attorneys and law firms in the country that abuse their rights in trying to squeeze money out of debtors. Fortunately here at Ivan Zartz we assist those creditors who are legally owed monies by debtors that have the ability to pay their debts but choose not to.

Garnishee Orders

Ivan Zartz Attorneys respects the garnishee orders that protect both parties in a debt agreement, but other attorneys sometimes bypass regulation so that they may abuse debtors in order to collect on debt before the specified time or otherwise when the debtor is completely unable to repay their debt. The garnishee order and the rights of the debtor and creditor are explicitly laid out in the National Credit Act. The practice of debt collection in South Africa is rife with cases of abuse and debt collection practice that is otherwise deemed unnecessary.

Illegal Debt Collection

Those that are abused by such practices are not the individuals or organisations that Ivan Zartz Attorneys follows up on as we deal in cases of debt collection amounting to over R100 000. Those that are affected by fraudulent debt collection are the poorer and less informed members of our society.

These people are often victims to numerous kinds of debt collection abuses. A common theme in South Africa is the use of physical force or verbal threat in order to collect owed monies. A more underhanded approach to debt collection is the fraudulent tampering of official documents such as the garnishee order. These documents are brought to the debtor to force them to issue their debts. At other times these fraudulent documents are brought into court and are actually considered by some officials in the jurisdiction. Fraudulent attorneys will also attempt to smear the debtor by labeling them as not being creditworthy.

At Ivan Zartz we encourage these debtors to retain important documents regarding their debt payment schemes and report any illegal uses of force, smearing or intimidation. Our practice relies on legal and agreeable approaches to collect monies owed by those parties (often businesses and organisations) that owe extreme amounts of money to smaller creditors. Contact Ivan Zartz Attorneys to find out more.