Age of Majority Act

ENACTED by the Legislature of the Cayman Islands. Short title This Law may be cited as the Age of Majority Law (1999 Revision). Age of majority reduced to eighteen years, etc. (1) As from 19th December, 1977, a person shall attain full age on attaining the age of eighteen instead of on attaining the age of twenty-one. (2) Subsection (1) applies for the purpose of any rule of law, and, in the absence of a definition or of any indication of contrary intention, for the construction of “full age”, “infant”, “infancy”, “minor”, “minority” and similar expressions in — (a) any statutory provision, whether passed or made before, on or after the 19th December, 1977; and (b) any deed, will or other instrument of whatever nature (not being a statutory provision) made on or after the 19th December, 1977. (3) In subsection (2) and section 5(2) — “statutory provision” means any enactment (including, except where the context otherwise requires, this Law) and any order, rule, regulation, bye-law or other instrument made in the exercise of a power conferred by any enactment.

(4) Notwithstanding any rule of law, a will or codicil executed before 19th December, 1977 shall not be treated for the purposes of this section as made on or after that date by reason only that the will or codicil is confirmed by a codicil executed on or after that date. Maintenance for wards of Court (1) Subject to subsections (2) to (5), the Grand Court may make an order — (a) requiring either parent of a ward of court to pay to the other parent; or (b) requiring either parent or both parents of a ward of court to pay to any person having care and control of the ward, such weekly or other periodical sums towards the maintenance and education of the ward as the Court thinks reasonable having regard to the means of the person or persons on whom the requirement is imposed. (2) An order under subsection (1) may require such sums as are mentioned in that subsection to continue to be paid in respect of any period after the date on which the person for whose benefit the payments are to be made ceased to be a minor but not beyond the date on which he attains the age of twenty-one, and any order made as aforesaid may provide that any sum which is payable thereunder for the benefit of that person after he has ceased to be a minor shall be paid to that person himself. (3) Subject to subsections (1), and (3) to (5), where a person who has ceased to be a minor but has not attained the age of twenty-one has, at any time, been the subject of an order making him a ward of court, the Court may, on the application of either parent of that person or of that person himself, make an order requiring either parent to pay to the other parent, to anyone else for the benefit of that person or to that person himself, in respect of any period not extending beyond the date when he attains the said age, such weekly or other periodical sums towards his maintenance or education as the Court thinks reasonable having regard to the means of the person on whom the requirement in question is imposed. (4) No order shall be made under this section, and no liability under such order shall accrue, at a time when the parents of the ward or former ward, as the case may be, are residing together, and if they so reside for a period of three months after such an order has been made it shall cease to have effect; but this subsection shall not apply to any order made under paragraph (b) of subsection (1). (5) No order shall be made under this section requiring any person to pay any sum towards the maintenance or education of an illegitimate child of that person.

Persons under full age may be described as minors instead of as infants A person who is not of full age may be described as a minor instead of as an infant and accordingly, in this Law, “minor” means such a person. Time at which a person attains a particular age (1) The time at which a person attains a particular age expressed in years shall be the commencement of the relevant anniversary of the date of his birth. (2) This section applies only where the relevant anniversary falls on a date after the 19th December, 1977 and, in relation to any statutory provision, deed, will or other instrument, has effect subject to any provision therein. Publication in revised form authorised by the Governor in Council this 1st day of June, 1999. Carmena H. Parsons Clerk of Executive Council