GUARDIANSHIP OF INFANTS ACT 1916 - SECT 14
Power of parents to appoint guardians
GUARDIANSHIP OF INFANTS ACT 1916 - SECT 14
Power of parents to appoint guardians
14 Power of parents to appoint guardians
(1) The parent (including a mother or father) of a minor may by deed or will
appoint any person to be guardian of the minor after his or her death.
(3)
Any guardian so appointed shall act jointly with the surviving parent
(including the mother or father, as the case may be) of the minor so long as
the surviving parent remains alive, unless the surviving parent objects to his
so acting.
(4) If the surviving parent so objects, or if the guardian so
appointed considers that the surviving parent is unfit to have the custody of
the minor, the guardian may apply to the court.
The court may either refuse to make an order (in which case the surviving
parent shall remain sole guardian) or make an order that the guardian so
appointed shall act jointly with the surviving parent, or that he shall be
sole guardian of the minor.
Where the court makes an order that the guardian so appointed shall be the
sole guardian of the minor, the court may make such order regarding the
custody of the minor and the right of access thereto of its mother or father
as, having regard to the welfare of the minor, the court may think fit, and
may further order that the surviving parent shall pay to the guardian towards
the maintenance and education of the minor such weekly or other periodical sum
as, having regard to the means of the surviving parent, the court may consider
reasonable.
The powers conferred by this subsection may be exercised at any time and shall
include power to vary or discharge any order previously made in virtue of
those powers.
(5) Where guardians are appointed by both parents, the
guardians so appointed shall, after the death of the surviving parent, act
jointly.
(6) If under the preceding section a guardian has been appointed by
the court to act jointly with a surviving parent, he shall continue to act as
guardian after the death of the surviving parent; but if the surviving parent
has appointed a guardian, the guardian appointed by the court shall act
jointly with the guardian appointed by the surviving parent.