• (Mpsy.D) Psychosynthesis
• (Ph.D)     Life Counselling

 Certification:  

• Advanced Child Justice
• Divorce and Family Mediation
• Trauma and Bereavement Counselling
• Ethno Psychology
• Clinical Hypnotherapy
• Advanced Psycho-legal Work
• Fundamentals of Psycho-Legal Work
• Abnormal Psychology
• Anatomy and Physiology
• Pathophysiology

Currently Completing (2012):

• National Diploma in Paralegal Studies

Specializing in:

• Family Law and Divorce
• Criminal Law

Intern Work:

• Currently attending patients rounds in the ICU Neuro ward tending to Neuro traumatized patients at the Johannesburg General Hospital

Palliative Care Work:

• Counselling patients (and family members) who are suffering from incurable diseases.

Registered Member of:

• (FAMSA) Divorce and Family Mediation
• (PSYSSA) Psychological Society of South Africa (Reg. No. CLA012)
• (SACNA) South African Clinical Neuropsychological Society of SA (Reg. No. 769)
• (EPASA) Ethno Psychology Association of South Africa (Reg. No. 081100833)
• (HEPASA) Hypnotherapy and Ethno Association of South Africa (Reg. No. 081100833)
• Council for Counsellors (Reg No SCO 0440)
• (SANS) S A Neurosciences Society
• Alzheimer’s South Africa
• (SASCH) South African Society of Clinical Hypnotherapy

Radio Interviews Conducted:

• 702 and Cape Talk Radio – Benefits of Hypnotherapy and Psychology
• Radio Lotus – Kwazulu Natal – Benefits of Hypnotherapy and Psychology
• Radio Today – Neuropsychology and Brain Trauma’s

Television:

• Carte Blanche Medical  - Early warning signs of Alzheimer’s

Peer Reviewed Papers Written:

• Conflict in the Human Brain – Accepted for oral presentation by SACNA at the annual Neuro  World Conference

Articles Submitted For Print:

• Ethno Medicine and the World Health Organization – The South African Journal ofNatural Medicine
• The Truths and Myths about Marriage Mediation

Conclusion:

I am passionate about the journey that I have undertaken. Due to my very inquisitive mind I have positioned myself to assist the struggling mother in court to the brain traumatized person in court. I have studied and will continue to study to answer my calling in this life time. TO SERVE PEOPLE.

Contact Details:

E-Mail: Johan@drjohanclaassens.com

Cell :  073 474 6874      

Fax: `086 611 1555

Medical Rooms: Skinatomy, 50 Embassy, Cnr William Nicol and Mulbarton Rd’s, Fourways. 

www.drjohanclaassens.com

Paul Mthimunye, the deputy director of Family Law at the Department of Justice, acknowledges the pressure on resources at Jozi’s Maintenance Court. “There are 83 642 maintenance cases being handled at the Market Street branch – and we fully acknowledge that this court is totally over-burdened, as it serves Soweto and the greater Johannesburg area,” he says, but adds that his department is addressing the problem.

“We’ve appointed extra maintenance clerks and officials to meet the public’s demand and address the understaffing problems. We now have an internship programme focusing on improving maintenance issues, and the maintenance payment system has been upgraded to ensure computerised efficiency so that payments are made more timeously. When money is deposited in a person’s account, they’re informed by an SMS.

“We’re trying to decentralise the whole system to create services in the townships and ease the Market Street overload. People also struggle with transport getting there, so having local courts will make it more convenient for everybody.

“We’ve also recently created Project Isondlo [Zulu for "support/maintenance"], which will address the backlog of maintenance defaulters, and in Market Street we now have investigators tracking down payment defaulters.”

More than 200 maintenance investigators were appointed in maintenance courts two years ago to help trace maintenance-dodging dads, and investigate their financial status and savings, including those tucked away in secret accounts. Then last year’s landmark judgment gave maintenance investigators even more clout.

Single mother Liz, the plaintiff, had been owed money by her affluent husband since 1994 for her son, who’s now aged 17. After hearing the case, the judge ruled that all maintenance courts have the power to order the defaulter to pay, even by intercepting payments from an insurance policy, retirement annuity or pension fund. Maintenance investigators now have the power to subpoena any institution to reveal a defaulter’s status.

It all sounds very encouraging for single mothers battling to support themselves and their children, but one look at the endless queues of stressed applicants waiting in the Maintenance Court makes you question just how effective the new ruling really is.

Changing the system may be beyond the powers of ordinary single mothers – but you can change the way you operate inside that system. By understanding how a maintenance application works, and equipping yourself with all the necessary documents and information, you can stop being a victim of the maintenance machine and become the manager of your own role in it.

Single mother Gadija Hendriks: “I’ve been coming to this court since 1997. My daughter’s deaf and I’m really struggling to send her to the special school and pay all her expenses. The school fees alone are R10 000 per year.

“I met her father when I was still at school. We fell in love and dated for quite a while. Then I fell pregnant when I was 18, and he said I should have an abortion. I didn’t want to, so he ran away.

“The day our daughter was born, my mother dragged him to see her, but the next thing he was gone.

“For the first five years of her life, he didn’t pay a cent towards her upkeep. Finally I came to court and he was ordered to pay R500 a month. Sometimes he’d pay R100 or R150 – never the right amount. So I became a real regular here at the court.

“We’re Muslims and last year, during the festival of Eid, he came over and gave his daughter a lousy R50. I think in 13 years he’s paid less than R5 000. I have a court order now that he has to pay the money into my account, but he’s always full of excuses. He drives a 4×4 and he definitely has money.

“We both knew what we were doing when we were having sex, but he’s never taken responsibility. My daughter’s a darling child, but I really need help with her.”

Estranged father Donald Maleka: “I have a five-year-old daughter who lives with her mother in Johannesburg. I’m currently employed as a construction worker and earn R3 000 per month.

“Last year, my ex-girlfriend successfully applied for a garnishing order of R700 against me for maintenance. I’m currently attempting to apply for a reduction of the child support money. I have many expenses to pay with the little money I earn and I’m fast incurring debt because I can’t make ends meet. I usually end up borrowing money from my friends so I can keep going each month. “My biggest frustration is that I know my ex-girlfriend uses the maintenance money on herself, and not on my daughter. It makes me very angry just to think of it. She doesn’t even need that much money for our child – she just wants to buy clothes for herself. She claimed in court that she was unemployed, but I know she’s involved in a few projects that earn her a good income.

“I made the suggestion that I myself buy everything my daughter needs, but my ex-girlfriend refused and said she just wants the money.

“I really don’t mind paying maintenance for my child. I want her to have a happy life and know I’m her father. If my application to reduce the maintenance money doesn’t succeed, my second option is to apply for custody of my daughter.”

Talk the talk

Think of the Maintenance Court as a different country. It’s a lot easier to get along with the locals if you know their language:

Maintenance Court: Every Magistrate’s Court is also a Maintenance Court for the application of this law.
Maintenance Offices: The place where maintenance complaints or queries can be submitted, or where maintenance can be paid in or collected.
Prosecutor: Person leading the procedure on behalf of the claimant.
Claimant: Person acting on behalf of the child for a specific amount of maintenance.
Defendant: Person responsible for maintenance.
Witness: A person who can testify and submit relevant information to the court for or against any involved person.
Magistrate: Presiding officer during the procedure.
Subpoena: A written letter commanding persons or organisations to appear before the court.
Summons: An order from the court demanding that someone appear before a magistrate.
Remuneration: Income in any form, whether a salary or allowance.

Do the math’s

Marie Kapp, author of Maintenance Services For You, says there are basically two questions in a maintenance scenario, and offers advice on how to answer them:
How much money do you need for your child?

• Calculate the money you need for basic things such as housing, school fees and uniforms, food and medical care.
• Write down the prices of each and every item you buy for your child in an average month – from school uniforms to other clothing, stationery and medication – and ask the store or pharmacy manager for receipts for all these purchases.
• When you need to give the Maintenance Court a breakdown of your income and expenditure statement, you’ll find there are numbers allocated to each section of the form you have to fill in. Use the same numbering system and sections to file the information you’ve collected. This changes you from a victim into a manager of your own maintenance file.
• You have to provide details of the other parent’s income before you enter the Maintenance Court. This isn’t as difficult as it sounds. If you have your former partner’s surname, initials and ID number, you can do a credit profile check, a deeds search and a vehicle check. You can arrange this by contacting the ITC organisation on: www.itc.co.za.
• “If you don’t know of any policies, investments or annuities in your ex-husband’s name, ask the maintenance investigator to look into their possible existence,” advises Pat Moodley, the director of family law and child justice at the Department of Justice.
• Your ex-partner’s monthly instalments on a bond or car can help you estimate his salary. According to South African credit law, monthly payments on a home bond or car may not exceed more than one-third of the bond-holder’s or car purchaser’s salary. So, for example, if your ex-partner has a home bond for R180 000, his monthly payments on that amount would come to about R3 000. Therefore, his total income must be at least R9 000. The same principle applies to vehicle purchases. Calculating this information will help you work out what percentage of your ex-partner’s income you can reasonably claim for his child’s maintenance.
• Don’t use maintenance to settle a score with an ex-partner. Advocate Verhoef says he often sees people behaving irrationally when one of the parties becomes involved in a new relationship. “I see many cases where the ex-wife becomes jealous because she thinks the new woman in her former husband’s life may now be benefiting financially,” he says.
• Don’t allow emotional or sexual issues to cloud your judgement or soften your attitude. If your child’s father re-enters your life socially or resumes a sexual relationship with you, that has nothing to do with his obligation to support his offspring. Once you decide to seek a maintenance order, be consistent about your expectations.
• Don’t confuse maintenance with access. The relationship between access and maintenance is a major area of confusion, says advocate Verhoef. “Paying maintenance for your child doesn’t guarantee you access to him or her. A court has to grant the parent access rights. Sometimes there are special circumstances why a parent shouldn’t be granted access to the child, like in the case of an abusive parent or where there’s substance addiction. But if it’s in the child’s interest to have contact with the parent, then access will always be granted. Always remember that the interests of the children are the most important issue. People need to separate those interests and the failure of their previous relationship.”
• Don’t use your child as a bargaining tool or weapon in your battle to make the father pay his share. Inflicting emotional damage on your child by preventing him from seeing his father, or poisoning his attitude towards him, will do far more harm than good in the long term.

How much money do the parents earn?

Get your emotions under control

Impress the court
Score points by convincing the court that you’re a rational person who can be relied on to provide accurate information.

• It’s a mistake to make unreasonable demands on your ex-partner’s finances. If you’re spending large amounts of money on extramural or unnecessary activities for your child (such as sports equipment, excessive amounts of pocket money or outings), the father will have a strong case in contesting your claim and can insist you budget more fairly.
• Be 100% honest about your own income when applying for a maintenance order, or your child’s father could take a counter-action against you on the basis of fraudulent claims. Remember, everything you tell the Maintenance Court is recorded and checked – and will certainly rebound on you if you distort or withhold information.
• Be realistic about your ex-partner’s financial position. Advocate Verhoef says: “People often believe their ex-spouses are much wealthier than they really are. You can’t divorce someone because they didn’t support you and then miraculously expect them to become a huge provider!”
• Do your bit. Don’t assume that if your child’s father is paying maintenance, you can shirk your own financial obligations towards the child’s upkeep. “The bottom line is: both parents have a responsibility to contribute according to their means,” cautions Marie Kapp.

Hereby we would like introduce our company to you and hope that you will make use of our services.  We have 15 years of experince within the tracing industry and we make use of very accurate and effective methods.  Possitive results are guarenteed for 60 days  We work on a no trace no fee basis.  Fees are as follows, R200.00 per trace for a work or house address. We basically need an ID number, or at least full names & surname and date of birth.  Any further additional information you can provide will make things easier.(last known workplace, home adresses or telephone numbers)

Hope to hear from you soon,

Hiermee stel ons graag ons maatskappy aan U voor in hoop dat U van ons dienste gebruik sal maak.  Ons het 15 jaar se opsporings ondervinding in die bedryf en ons maak gebruik van baie akkurate tegnieke.  Positiewe resultate word gewaarborg vir 60 dae.  Ons werk op ’n geen-spoor-geen fooi basis.  Kostes beloop teen R200.00 per sporing vir werk besonderhede of ’n huisades.

Ons benodif basies ’n ID nommer of ten minste vollename van en geboortedatum.  Enige verdere additionele informasie wat U aan ons kan verskaf sal die sporing makliker maak. (Laas bekende werksplek, huisadresse of telefoonnommers.)

Hoop dat ons binnekort van U sal hoor,

Sherlock Tracing, Clinton Couvaras & Belinda Kapp

We do it right in time the first time. / Ons doen dit reg in tyd die eerste keer.