The voluntary assumption of an enforceable support duty — Comments on the ruling in NM v BM

In the case of NM v BM [2024] ZAWCHC 254, a stepfather had been providing generous financial support to his stepchildren while he was married to the children’s mother. The court was not satisfied with the stepfather’s abrupt discontinuation of financial support immediately upon splitting from the children’s mother. The note explores whether an order requiring continued maintenance from a stepparent could be supported by the Supreme Court of Appeal ruling in Road Accident Fund v Mohohlo 2018 (2) SA 65 (SCA), which provided that an enforceable duty of financial support could be created through the voluntary assumption of such a duty in a familial setting.