Matrimonial Causes (Amendment) Bill 2024: Bill simplifies divorce process, allows ex-husbands to seek alimony – AG

The government recently tabled the Matrimonial Causes (Amendment) Bill 2024 in the National Assembly, which seeks to make several adjustments to the current law in order to facilitate greater gender equality.
“Equal treatment is a guaranteed fundamental right, you cannot have unequal treatment…We have changed wherever we found this inequality of gender to ensure there is gender equality and equal treatment to both the husband and the wife,” Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall stated on Tuesday during his weekly programme ‘Issues in the News.’

Key among the proposed amendments is a provision that would enable ex-husbands to seek compensation from their wives, aligning with the landmark judgment by Chief Justice (AG) Roxane George in a February 2024. This ruling arose from a constitutional challenge against outdated alimony laws in Guyana.
Nandlall said the current law discriminated against men on the basis of their gender but many things have changed in society since the law was drafted.
“That has been removed and now the provisions are gender neutral so a husband can claim maintenance from his wife and the wife from the husband,” he stated.
While the Clause 14 of the Matrimonial Causes Act No. 34 of 1916 states that the court may order that a husband pay his wife a gross or annual sum of money “for any term not exceeding her life.” The sum, it stated, should have regard for her fortune (if any), the ability of the husband and to the conduct of the parties it deems reasonable. Other factors were taken into consideration including the ability of the court to suspend the order, or increase the amount if the means of the husband has increased.
The 2024 Bill seeks to amend the subsection to replace “husband” with “a party” referring to both genders. It states that the court, if it thinks fit, may make an order “requiring a party to the marriage to maintain the other party to the extent that the fist mentioned part is able to do so.” However, this liability arises “only where the other party is unable to support herself or himself adequately, whether by reason of having the care of a child of the marriage…or by reason of age, or physical or mental incapacity for appropriate gainful employment, or any other adequate reason.”
To institute this clause, the court must consider the health, age, possessions, duration of the marriage, whether the person has moved onto another relationship, responsibilities of each party along with “the contributions made by the party whose maintenance is under consideration.”
Further, the new Bill has insertions of 14A, B and C replacing other sections in the old Act. The additions address the timelines for the “maintenance” or alimony to be paid, what happens after the death or re-marriage of either party, and the ability of the court to suspend or revive the order.
As a result of the amendments, the Summary Jurisdiction (Magistrates) Act is amended to become gender neutral in relation to spouses.
The 2024 Bill also addresses Divorce making it easier to complete such process. The grounds for divorce will be amended to include “irreconcilable differences which has caused the irremediable breakdown of the marriage,” provided that the parties have been separated and lived apart for a continuous period of six months prior to filing for the divorce. This includes instances where the two persons have separated “notwithstanding” that they have continued to occupy the same space.
The Attorney General stated that this addition will remove the need for the petitioner to prove before the court that their partner was involved in adultery or desertion, cruelty, or any other provisions which may not necessarily be the reason for the divorce.
“Unless you can prove those things, you can’t get a divorce and this has led to innumerable problems in society. This has led to persons being forced to live together and then those where married persons severed all relations,” he noted.
“The most nasty set of details can come out in divorce petitions as evidence in court and is publicly done and damaging the relationship between the parties forever and the persons who suffer most are the children in the marriage,” he added.
The AG believes that it is time that Guyana positions itself with the rest of the world and update its laws.
Several other legislations are currently under review to ensure that people are treated equally regardless of race, gender or other means.