Guardianship of Minors Act 1971

Jurisdiction and procedure E+W

15 Courts having jurisdiction under this Act. E+W

[X1 (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, “the court” for the purposes of this Act means—

(a) the High Court;

(b) the county court of the district in which the respondent (or any of the respondents) or the applicant or the minor to whom the application relates resides; or

(c) a [F1 magistrates’ court appointed for the commission area (within the meaning of the M1 [F2 Justices of the Peace Act 1979])]]

[F3 (1) Subject to the provisions of this section “the court” for the purposes of this Act means the High Court, any county court or any magistrates’ court, except that provision may be made by rules of court that in the case of such applications to a county court, or such applications to a magistrates’ court, as are prescribed, only such county courts, or as the case may be such magistrates’ courts, as are prescribed shall be authorised to hear those applications.]

(2) A magistrates’ court shall not be competent to entertain—

(a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F4

(b) any application involving the administration or application of any property belonging to or held in trust for a minor, or the income thereof.

[F5 (2A) lt is hereby declared that any power conferred on a magistrates’ court under this Act is exercisable notwithstanding that any party to the proceedings is residing outside England and Wales.

(2B) Where any party to the proceedings on an application to a magistrates’ court under this Act resides outside the United Kingdom and does not appear at the time and place appointed for the hearing of the application, the court shall not hear the application unless it is proved to the satisfaction of the court, in such manner as is prescribed, that such steps as are prescribed have been taken to give to that party notice of the application and of the time and place appointed for the hearing of it.

(2C) In this section “prescribed” means prescribed by rules of court.]

[F6 (3) A county court or magistrates’ court shall not have jurisdiction under this Act in any case where the respondent or any of the respondents resides in Scotland or Northern Ireland—

(a) except in so far as such jurisdiction may be exercisable by virtue of the following provisions of this section; or

(b) unless a summons or other originating process can be served and is served on the respondent or, as the case may be, on the respondents in England or Wales.

(4) An order under this Act giving the [F7 legal custody] of a minor [F8 to a person resident in England or Wales], whether with or without an order [F8 requiring payments to be made] towards the minor’s maintenance, may be made, if [F8 one parent] resides in Scotland or Northern Ireland and [F8 the other parent] and the minor in England or Wales, by a [F9 magistrates’ court appointed for the commission area (within the meaning of the M2 [F10 Justices of the Peace Act 1979])] in which [F8 the other parent] resides.]

(5) It is hereby declared that a magistrates’ court has jurisdiction—

(a) in proceedings under this Act by a person residing in Scotland or Northern Ireland against a person residing in England or Wales for an order relating to the [F7 legal custody] of a minor (including, . . . F11 , an order [F12 requiring payments to be made] towards the minor’s maintenance);

(b) in proceedings by or against a person residing in Scotland or Northern Ireland for the revocation, revival or variation of any such order.

(6) Where proceedings for an order under subsection (1) of section 9 of this Act relating to the [F7 legal custody] of a minor are brought in a magistrates’ court by [F13 a person] residing in Scotland or Northern Ireland, the court shall have jurisdiction to make any order in respect of the minor under [F13 that section] on the application of the respondent in the proceedings.

Editorial Information

X1 S. 15(1) appearing second substituted (prosp.) for s. 15(1) appearing first by Family Law Act 1986 (c. 55, SIF 49:3), ss. 68(1), 69(3), Sch. 1 para. 10(2)

Textual Amendments

F1 Words substituted by Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Courts Act 1978 (c. 22, SIF 49:3), s. 47(1), Sch. 1

F2 Words substituted by Justices of the Peace Act 1979 (c. 55, SIF 82), s. 71, Sch. 2 para. 16

F3 S. 15(1) appearing second substituted (prosp.) for s. 15(1) appearing first by Family Law Act 1986 (c. 55, SIF 49:3), ss. 68(1), 69(3), Sch. 1 para. 10(2)

F4 S. 15(2)(a repealed by Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Courts Act 1978 (c. 22, SIF 49:3), s. 38(1), Sch. 1

F5 S. 15(2A)–(2C) inserted (prosp.) by Family Law Act 1986 (c. 55, SIF 49:3), s. 68(1), 69(3), Sch. 1 para. 10(3)

F6 S. 15(3)–(6) repealed (prosp.) by Family Law Act 1986 (c. 55, SIF 49:3), ss. 68(1), 69(3), Sch. 1 para. 10(4), Sch. 2

F7 Words substituted by Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Courts Act 1978 (c. 22, SIF 49:3), s. 36(1)(a), Sch. 1

F8 Words substituted by Guardianship Act 1973 (c. 29, SIF 49:9), s. 2(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I para. 3(2)

F9 Words substituted by Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Courts Act 1978 (c. 22, SIF 49:3), s. 47(1), Sch. 1

F10 Words substituted by Justices of the Peace Act 1979 (c. 55, SIF 82), s. 71, Sch. 2 para. 16

F11 Words repealed by Guardianship Act 1973 (c. 29, SIF 49:9), s. 2(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I para. 3(3)

F12 Words substituted by Guardianship Act 1973 (c. 29, SIF 49:9), s. 2(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I para. 3(3)

F13 Words substituted by Guardianship Act 1973 (c. 29, SIF 49:9), s. 2(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I para. 3(4)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 15(1)–(3) extended by Guardianship Act 1973 (c. 29, SIF 49:9), s. 1(6)

C2 S. 15(1)–(3) extended by Guardianship Act 1973 (c. 29, SIF 49:9), s. 1(6)

C3 S. 15(3)–(6) set out as amended by Guardianship Act 1973 (c. 29) in Sch. 2 Pt. II to that Act

C4 S. 15(4)–(6) extended by Guardianship Act 1973 (c. 29, SIF 49:9), s. 4(3)

Marginal Citations

M1 1979 c. 55 (82).

M2 1979 c. 55(82).

[F14 15A (1) Where one parent of a minor resides in England and Wales and the other parent and the minor reside outside England and Wales, the court shall have power, on an application made by that other parent, to make one or both of the orders mentioned in section 9(2)(a) and (b) of this Act against the parent resident in England and Wales, notwithstanding that no order has been made under section 9(1) of this Act regarding the custody of the child; and in relation to such an application section 9(2)(a) and (b) shall have effect as if for any reference to the parent excluded from actual custody there were substituted a reference to the parent resident in England and Wales.

(2) Any reference in this Act to the powers of the court under section 9(2) of this Act or to an order made under the said section 9(2) shall include a reference to the powers which the court has by virtue of subsection (1) above or, as the case may be, to an order made by virtue of subsection (1) above.]

Textual Amendments

F14 S. 15A inserted (prosp.) by Family Law Act 1986 (c. 55, SIF 49:3), ss. 68(1), 69(3), Sch. 1 para. 11

16 Appeals and procedure. E+W

(1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F15

(2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F16

(3) Subject to subsection (4) of this section, where on an application to a magistrates’ court under this Act the court makes or refuses to make an order, an appeal shall lie to the High Court.

(4) Where an application is made to a magistrates’ court under this Act, and the court considers that the matter is one which would more conveniently be dealt with by the High Court, [F17 the magistrates’ court shall] refuse to make an order, and in that case no appeal shall lie to the High Court.

[F18 (5) In relation to applications made to a magistrates’ court under [F19 section 14A of this Act regarding acess to a minor by a grandparent or under][F20 section 3(3) or 4(3A) of the M3 Guardianship Act 1973 for the discharge or variation of a supervision order or, as the case may be, an order giving the care of a minor to a local authority or an order requiring payments to be made to an authority to whom care of a minor is so given] rules made under [F21 section 144 of the M4 Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980] may make provision as to the persons who are to be made defendants on the application; and if on any such application there are two or more defendants, the power of the court under [F22 section 64(1) of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980] shall be deemed to include power, whatever adjudication the court makes on the complaint, to order any of the parties to pay the whole or part of the costs of all or any of the other parties.]

[F23 (6) On an appeal under subsection (3) of this section the High Court shall have power to make such orders as may be necessary to give effect to its determination of the appeal including such incidental or consequential orders as appear to the court to be just, and, in the case of an appeal from a decision of a magistrates’ court made on an application for or in respect of an order for the making of periodical payments, the High Court shall have power to order that its determination of the appeal shall have effect from such date as the court thinks fit, not being earlier than the date of the making of the application to the magistrates’ court.

(7) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (6) above, where, on an appeal under subsection (3) of this section in respect of an order of a magistrates’ court requiring a parent of a minor to make periodical payments, the High Court reduces the amount of those payments or discharges the order, the High Court shall have power to order the person entitled to Payments under the order of the magistrates’ court to pay to that parent such sum in respect of Payments already made by the parent in compliance with the order as the High Court thinks fit and, if any arrears are due under the order of the magistrates’court, the High Court shall have power to remit the payment of those arrears or any part thereof.

(8) Any order of the High Court made on an appeal under subsection (3) of this section (other than an order directing that an application shall be re-heard by a magistrates’ court) shall for the purposes of the enforcement of the order and for the Purposes of any power to vary, revive or discharge orders conferred by section 9(4), 10(2), 11(c), 12B(5) or 12C(5)of this Act or section 3(3) or 4(3A) or (3D) of the M5 Guardianship Act 1973 be treated as if lt were an order of the magistrates’ court from which the appeal was brought and not of the High Court.]

Textual Amendments

F15 S. 16(1) repealed by Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 (c. 42, SIF 49:3), s. 46(3), Sch. 3

F16 S. 16(2) repealed by Children Act 1975 (c. 72, SIF 49:9), Sch. 4 Pt. IV

F17 Words substituted by Children Act 1975 (c. 72, SIF 49:9), s. 108(1)(a), Sch. 3 para. 75(3)(b)

F18 S. 16(5) added by Guardianship Act 1973 (c. 29), s. 2(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I para. 4

F19 Words inserted by Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Courts Act 1978 (c. 22, SIF 49:3), s. 89, Sch. 1, Sch. 2 para. 31

F20 Words substituted by Children Act 1975 (c. 72, SIF 49:9), s. 108(1)(a), Sch. 3 para. 75(3)(c)

F21 Words substituted by Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 (c. 43, SIF 82), s. 154, Sch. 7 para. 92(a)

F22 Words substituted by Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 (c. 43, SIF 82), s. 154, Sch. 7 para. 92(b)

F23 S. 16(6)–(8) added by Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Courts Act 1978 (c. 22, SIF 49:3), s. 48, Sch. 1

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C5 S. 16 extended by Guardianship Act 1973 (c. 29, SIF 49:9), s. 1(6); excluded by Guardianship Act 1973 (c. 29), s. 5(1)

C6 S. 16(4) excluded by Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1972 (c. 18, SIF 49:3), s. 30(2)

C7 S. 16(5) extended by Guardianship Act 1973 (c.29, SIF 49:9), s. 4(3)

Marginal Citations

M3 1973 c. 29 (49:9, 10).

M4 1980 c. 43 (82).

M5 1973 c. 29 ( 49:9).

17 Saving for powers of High Court and other courts. E+W

(1) Nothing in this Act shall restrict or affect the jurisdiction of the High Court to appoint or remove guardians or otherwise in respect of minors.

[F24 (2) Nothing in section 15(4), (5) or (6) of this Act shall be construed as derogating from any jurisdiction exercisable, apart from those provisions, by any court in England or Wales; and it is hereby declared that any jurisdiction conferred by those provisions is exercisable notwithstanding that any party to the proceedings is not domiciled in England and Wales.]

Textual Amendments

F24 S. 17(2) repealed (prosp.) by Family Law Act 1986 (c. 55, SIF 49:3), ss. 68(1), 69(3), Sch. 1 para. 12, Sch. 2