When one spouse's earning capacity was built during the marriage – or sacrificed for it – the payslips on the table do not tell the whole story. Spear plots the path that career was realistically on.
The Value in Dispute Is Not Always in the Present
Accrual and maintenance disputes are argued on documents that describe today: payslips, bank statements, a company's last set of financials. Yet the value at issue is often still ahead of the parties.
The spouse on the brink
A candidate attorney about to be admitted. A registrar two years from specialist qualification. An employee whose promotion is confirmed but not yet paid. Current income materially understates what the marriage built.
The spouse who stepped back
One party forwent career progression to run the household or support the other's advancement. A maintenance calculation based only on their present earnings entrenches that loss permanently.
The spouse whose income is structured
A business owner whose declared income bears little relationship to what a person with their qualifications, sector and position would ordinarily earn.
How Our Reports Are Used
Spear produces an independent, evidence-based assessment of realistic earning capacity and career progression, benchmarked against comparator data for the actual occupation, qualification, sector and region.
Accrual Disputes
We map the career path and earning capacity built during the course of the marriage, so that a qualification, professional admission or partnership track attained during the marriage is properly reflected in the estate rather than overlooked because it has not yet converted into income.
- Likely career progression at date of divorce
- Value of qualifications and professional standing attained during the marriage
- Benchmarked comparator earnings by occupation, sector and region
Spousal Maintenance
We establish what a spouse could realistically earn if they re-entered the workforce or upskilled, and over what timeframe, giving the court an evidenced basis for rehabilitative maintenance rather than an assumption.
- Realistic re-entry earnings, given age, qualifications, health and time out of the labour market
- Retraining or upskilling pathways and their likely earnings outcome
- Realistic timeframes to reach earning capacity
Child Maintenance
Where a parent's declared income is inconsistent with their qualifications, position and sector, we provide a benchmarked view of expected earnings as an independent comparison against what has been declared.
- Benchmarked expected earnings for the parent's actual role and sector
- Independent, transparently reasoned comparison
Why an Industrial Psychologist
This is not an accounting exercise. Forensic accountants reconstruct income that exists. Establishing what a person could earn – realistically, given their qualifications, work history, age, health and the labour market they operate in – is an industrial psychology assessment.
Our reports are:
- Individualised - benchmarked against comparator progression data, never generic salary tables
- Evidence-based - grounded in verified collateral and research to withstand scrutiny in litigation
- Defensible - transparently reasoned, and authored by the HPCSA-registered Industrial Psychologist who will defend them
Our Industrial Psychologists have extensive experience testifying in the High Court and Regional Courts across South Africa.
Have a matter that turns on a career path?
Contact us to discuss your requirements. We will confirm scope, timelines and the collateral required before you commit.
Contact Us