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Children and Civil Status (Amendments) (Jersey) Law 202-

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A decision made 20 December 2023:

Decision Reference:  MD-CED-2023-877

Public

Subject: Draft Children and Civil Status (Amendments) (Jersey) Law 202-

 

Report Title: Children and Civil Status Report 20231219

Public

Decision(s):

The Minister decided to lodge 'au Greffe' the draft Children and Civil Status (Amendments) (Jersey) Law 202- ('the draft Law').

Reason for Decision(s):

The draft Law will, if passed, amend the Children (Jersey) Law 2002, the Marriage and Civil Status (Jersey) Law 2001, the Marriage and Civil Status (Jersey) Order 2018 and the Interpretation (Jersey) Law 1954, to make provision in relation to parental orders, the acquisition of parental responsibility and the registration procedures for, and the status of, children who are conceived either as a result of fertility treatment or surrogacy arrangements.

Resource Implications: The amendment Law will provide the Court with the power to make two new types of Order which will require new Court Rules to be made, to set out the processes and standards that will be required by the Court. The drafting of instructions for the Court Rules is being paid for out of existing Judicial Greffe budget. New internal processes, application forms and procedures will also be required to enable applications to be made to the Court, it is envisaged that the cost of developing these will also be met from within existing budgets.  The amendment Law also introduces a new fee into the Stamp Duties and Fees (Jersey) Law 1998, this fee is set at rate G (£130) and is to cover the costs incurred by the Judicial Greffe in the administering of Parental Order applications.  The proposed legislative amendments will require new registers to be ordered by the Office of the Superintendent Registrar to reflect the amended particulars required as a result of the changes proposed above. This incurs a one-off cost of approximately £13,000. There will also need to be new processes and forms created to provide for the new types of registration that this amendment Law provides for – the cost of developing these processes and forms will be met from within existing budgets.

 

Action Required: The Greffier of the States is requested to lodge “au Greffe” the Draft Children and Civil Status (Amendments) (Jersey) Law 202-with a request for debate in the States sitting which is scheduled to commence on 6th February 2024.

Signature:

 

 

Signed By: Minister for Children and Education

Date Signed:

 

 

Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

 

 

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