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A marriage certificate.
The Constitutional Court has ruled that a spouse cannot enter into an antenuptial contract in a bid to override their initial and existing marriage property regime, whether it be civil or customary marriage.
The court on Wednesday decided to not uphold a decision by the High Court in Pretoria to declare a section of the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act unconstitutional.
The matter stems from an opposed divorce between VVC and JRM who were married in community of property by way of customary law in 2011 and later entered into a civil marriage.
VVC successfully challenged the section in the High Court to the extent that it permits the conclusion of contracts that change matrimonial property regimes without judicial oversight.
The Constitutional Court disagreed, finding that a civil marriage subsumes a customary marriage, does not dissolve it; and that there is nothing in that provision that envisages a change of a matrimonial property system.
VVC lost the challenge but the apex court concluded that the antenuptial contract between the pair is invalid, adding that the impugned provision does not permit the execution of an “antenuptial” contract in an existing customary marriage prior to a later civil marriage.
VIDEO | Understanding marriage contracts before saying “I do”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5BexY_NbSE
