The National Assembly yesterday unanimously passed the Civil Law (Rights of Persons in Common Law Union) Bill, with both government and opposition recognising deficiencies of the current laws in addressing inheritance rights upon the death of a spouse in a civil union.
With the enactment of the new law, persons in common-law unions for five years will receive the same privileges as a widow or widower, where their partner has died without making a will.
The bill was tabled in June by Attorney General Anil Nandlall, who yesterday said that common-law unions never received due recognition from the old British laws. He added that it was left to the innovation of judges to pacify the hardship which the law meted out to spouses and children in common-law unions. The move to change the outdated legislation began in 1983 with the promulgation of the Children Born out of Wedlock Act and the repeal of the Bastardy Act. In 1990, he noted, there was the passage of the Married Persons Property Amendment Act, when for the first time common-law unions were recognised by statute.
But Nandlall said that the shortcoming of the 1990 Act was that it did not extend to the death of a spouse, and in the interim the rules of intestacy prevailed in this vacuum. “The bill will benefit people right across the country,” he said, while adding that the legislation has been hailed as a victory for men and women.
Speaking on the legislation, Minister of Education and former Minister of Human Services Priya Manickchand said that the bill, though gender neutral, will be to the benefit of women for the most part. She said that from her experience as a laywer and in her former ministerial portfolio, she knows that not a week goes by without many women complaining of being left out of the estate of their deceased partner after living a lifetime with a man.
Manickchand said while she does not believe that the bill encourages common-law relationships, the House should not take away the choice of cohabitation as an alternative to marriage. She said too that while the law caters already for common-law unions, this new legislation will make women more equal.
APNU MP James Bond assured the main opposition’s support and said that he was sure all Guyanese will accept the bill.
He added that by passing the bill, the National Assembly would have moved in leaps and bounds in protecting the interest of women in common-law unions.
According to its explanatory memorandum, the bill seeks to provide for the rights of persons in a common law union “in intestate succession.” Clause 2 of the Bill provides that a single woman living with a single man in a common law union for not less than five years or vice versa to “have the same power and rights regarding intestate succession under the law as a widow or widower or a surviving spouse. However, only one such union shall be considered for any benefit.”
Additionally, Clause 3 amends section 2(6)(a) of the Family and Dependants Provision Act, to qualify a common-law spouse based on co-habitation for five years immediately preceding their partner’s death.
