Tuvalu Island Courts Bench Book - Federal Court of Australia

1 Family Jurisdiction
See s5 and Schedule 1 Island Courts Act (Cap 3).
The Island Court has jurisdiction to deal with matters relating to the family, including:
• granting a license to marry in certain circumstances, as provided in s11 Marriage Act
(Cap 29);
• applications for divorce only where:
both parties to the marriage are citizens of Tuvalu; and
both parties consent after the commencement of the proceedings; and
the Court is satisfied there are no major problems related to associated proceedings of
the divorce, like matrimonial property, maintenance and custody of children: s5(1)
Matrimonial Proceedings Act (Cap 21);
• any application for a child custody order under the Custody of Children Act (Cap 20),
subject to s5 of that Act, or under s12 Matrimonial Proceedings Act (Cap 21);
• applications for matrimonial property made under s13 Matrimonial Proceedings Act
(Cap 21);
• any application for maintenance order under the Maintenance (Miscellaneous
Provisions) Act (Cap 4) subject to ss4 and 7 of that Act.
These must be brought by private individuals, one of whom must reside on the island and the
other must be resident somewhere in Tuvalu.
Family Jurisdiction
Matter Authority Powers of Island Court
Marriage
Marriage Act (Cap 29) To grant special licenses to
See 2 below
marry (ss8 - 12)
Divorce and related
proceedings
See 3, 4, 5 and 6 below
Matrimonial Proceedings Act
(Cap 21)
Where the parties agree,
power to grant:
• divorce;
• custody;
• maintenance.
If the parties do not agree, the
matter should be referred to
the Magistrate’s Court (s5)
Tuvalu Island Courts Bench Book June 2004