Children's Status Act (No. 82 of 1987) , 30 December 1987
Annual Review of Population Law 14: 470-472
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0364-3417 PMID: 12346741 Document Number: 381245
This document reproduces South Africa's 1987 Children's Status Act, which contains provisions on paternity, guardianship, and the status of certain children, including those conceived as a result of artificial insemination. The Act details the circumstances when a person is presumed to be the father of an extramarital child unless proved otherwise. Refusal to submit to a blood test or to allow a child to submit to a blood test will be assumed to indicate an effort to hide the truth about a child's paternity. If the mother of an extramarital child is an unmarried minor, the child's mother's guardian will be the guardian of the child and the mother will hold custody. An extramarital child is legitimized by the marriage of his/her parents at any time after the birth. Children born as the result of artificial insemination of a woman with her husband's permission are considered the legitimate children of that woman and her husband. The status of any child born of a voidable marriage is not affected if the marriage if voided. No such marriage will be voided, however, until the interests of any children are safeguarded.