GOVERNMENT has again demonstrated its commitment to Guyana’s women, this time through the Civil Law (Rights of Persons in Common Law Union) Bill 2012, which was unanimously passed yesterday in the National Assembly.
This bill was tabled by Attorney General & Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, with intention to provide for the rights of persons in a common-law union when a partner has died intestate (without leaving a legal will). This is called intestate succession.
Clause two of the bill provides a single woman living with a single man in a common-law union for not less than five years or vice versa, with the same powers and rights regarding intestate succession as a widow or widower, or a surviving spouse. However, only one such union shall be considered for any benefit.
In addition, Clause Three, Section 2 (6) (a) of the Family and Dependents Provision Act has also been amended, substituting “seven years” for “five years”, to make the section accord with other laws relating to a common-law union.
Nandlall said, “This bill seeks, for the time in the history of our country, to accord to a spouse in a common-law union the right to access benefits under the laws of intestate.”
The Children Born out of Wedlock (Removal of Discrimination) Act 1983 was the first promulgation by Parliament to begin this legislative revolution of recognizing common-law union, and also did the Family Dependents Provision Act in 1990.
Nandlall, moreover, referred to the Married Persons Property (Amendment) Act, which for the time recognised by statute the common-law union. “We had a situation where the Married Persons Property (Amendment) Act of 1990 corrected the historical wrong that was committed against common-law spouses by conferring upon them the right to access matrimonial property in the same way that the legal spouse was entitled to all the years,” he said.
However, he said it did not extend that right to the position “where the spouse dies, and it did not extend to cover the eventuality of where one spouse dies, what is the position of the other spouse,” he pointed out.
“Therefore, this bill seeks to correct an omission which ought to have been corrected perhaps some 20 years ago, and this bill will benefit people right across this country,” he noted.
The Attorney General posited, “It has been lauded by the women’s groups as a great victory for women, and that is indeed true.” He said that men are equally going to benefit, as well as the children of those unions.
“We now can say that, in relation to common-law unions, we have perhaps a complete legislative network and framework which covers every eventuality,” the Attorney General declared.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand lent support to the bill by alluding to the fact that “this Government is friendly to women”. She declared the bill gender neutral, but acknowledged that the major beneficiaries of this bill, once enacted, would be Guyana’s women.
“I invite the National Assembly to join us and declare ourselves in this House openly and proudly that we are a House who will support Guyana’s women,” she encouraged.
“I believe this piece of legislation will do nothing more than to make women more equal,” Manickchand contended.
A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) MP James Bond also, in supporting the bill, called it commendable, and congratulated Attorney General Nandlall and his ministry for this effort.
Source: https://guyanachronicle.com/2012/07/13/govt-friendly-to-women-says-manickchand-as-house-unanimously-supports-passage-of-common-law-union-bill-opposition-mp-congratulates-nandlall-for-this-effort