Pretoria - Enough is enough, a court found in declaring a divorced woman a vexatious litigant.
The woman had bombarded her ex-husband and his wife with a litany of litigation, laid false charges against them, and simply would not stop running to the courts.
Acting Judge GY Benson, sitting in the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, said the mother’s conduct is especially harmful towards the divorced couple’s two children.
The judge ordered that the woman may not institute legal proceedings against her ex-husband and his wife again without first obtaining the leave of the high court to do so.
Such leave shall not be granted unless the court or the judge, as the case may be, is satisfied that the proceedings the wife wishes to institute are not an abuse of the legal process.
The husband and his wife turned to court to have her declared a vexatious litigant, as she was making their life a living hell with her constant court applications.
The now former couple got married in December 2004, and the marriage was dissolved in April 2017. They have two children, aged 13 and 12.
Primary residence of the children was initially awarded to the mother, but the court later changed this, and the children are now living with their father and his new wife.
Historically, the parties have been embroiled in a multiplicity of court matters, since April 2018 to date. The woman first lodged an application against her ex and his wife in the Children’s Court in 2018.
She has also laid numerous criminal charges against them, ranging from false sexual abuse allegations to kidnapping.
Judge Benson commented that the constant barrage of litigation by the woman is endless. “The children have, throughout, borne the brunt of the litigation, with serious concerns being raised on the part of forensic psychologists engaged herein regarding the respondent’s (mother) parenting abilities,” the judge said.
It has become commonplace for certain divorced parties, often encouraged by their legal representatives, to continue the acrimonious conduct experienced during the divorce proceedings well after the marriage has come to an end, the judge said.
“Especially where children are concerned, the psychological and financial impact this has on the former spouse, the children, and their extended family members is debilitating. Family law practitioners ought to discourage the continued harm caused by such conduct. But, unfortunately, there are a select few who do not.
“I observe, without making a finding in this particular application in this regard – that our courts have been slow in sanctioning the conduct of such legal practitioners. The abuse of the legal process is astounding in certain instances, with the right of access to court being exploited by family law litigants,” the judge said.
In this matter, and in the week the matter was heard in court, the mother had also not allowed one of the children (whom she had unlawfully refused to return to the care of her husband) to attend school.“It appears the child has still not been returned to the father,” the judge noted.
He said the woman continuously conducts herself in a manner that maximises harm to the children and obstructs the primary residence of the husband.
“She does so with impunity while continuously instituting fresh litigation or unmeritoriously opposing justified legal proceedings against her. The (woman) repeatedly disregards settlement agreements and court orders and accuses all professionals attempting to assist the minor children of bias.”
Unfounded criminal complaints of alleged sexual and physical abuse of the children and of kidnapping are repeatedly laid by the respondent against the first and second applicants, the judge said.
The woman, despite affording legal representation, does not contribute to the expenses of the forensic psychologists or social workers tasked with investigating her repeated allegations made in all of the legal proceedings which follow her criminal complaints.
As a result, her former husband and his wife have been forced, in order to protect themselves and the minor children, to incur great expense over the past several years for legal and other professional services.
Pretoria News