The Senior Principal Magistrate's Court at Malaba has struck out a guardianship suit after the subject of the case attained the age of majority.
The proceedings were instituted by JE, who filed a plaint on February 12, seeking to be appointed as the legal guardian of VE.
The plaintiff asked to be appointed the subject's legal guardian until he attained the age of 18 years or “until further orders” of the court.
The plaintiff also sought an order “granting the plaintiff parental responsibility over the minor for purposes of medical, educational and welfare decisions,” and another directing that the “Department of Children’s Services do supervise and file such reports as the court may direct”.
The court heard that the defendant, FE, is the biological mother of the subject and had separated from her husband when the child was three years old.
Since the separation, the plaintiff had taken over full responsibility for the minor, providing shelter, food, medical care and education.
Although the defendant was served, she neither entered an appearance nor filed a defence. While she attended court on the hearing date of July 29, she chose not to participate.
The trajectory of the case changed when Resident Magistrate Antoinette Ogange noted that the subject had reached adulthood.
The magistrate stated: “where, in the course of any proceedings in a Children's Court, it appears to the court that the person charged, or to whom the proceedings relate, is above the age of 18 years, the court shall transfer the proceedings to a court other than a Children's Court.”
The court acknowledged that the proceedings were properly instituted when the subject was a child.
However, the magistrate found that “attaining the age of majority affected the court's continuing jurisdiction.”
“The prayers seek appointment of a legal guardian, parental responsibility and authority over medical, educational and welfare decisions, which prayers are substantially founded upon the subject’s status as a child. Upon attaining the age of majority, the subject ordinarily acquires legal capacity to make decisions concerning his/her own person and welfare.”
In the absence of exceptional circumstances justifying the continuation of parental responsibility after the age of 18, the court found that the prayers had been overtaken by events. Consequently, the suit was struck out.
The magistrate concluded that since the matter was not opposed and it was a family issue, there would be “no orders as to costs”.
