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Sterling, Paula-Ann v Sterling, Wayne
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE OF JAMAICA
CLAIM NO. HCV OOO69 OF 2007
BETWEEN PAULA-ANN TRACY STERLING CLAIMANT
AND WAYNE FABIAN STERLING DEFENDANT
Heard on October 28, and December 3, 2008
Property (Rights of Spouses) Act 2004: Declaration of interest in Property. Whether
house is family home for purposes of sections 6 and 7. Whether application has to be
made pursuant to section 7. whether section 7 (2) exhaustive; scope of section 14.
Circumstances informing a just and reasonable division of property; Whether decree
nisi is appropriate trigger for the purposes of section 13 application; Application of
Section 11 where cohabitation continues
Mr. G. Steer and Mr. C. Dowding instructed by Pickersgill, Dowding and Bayley-Williams
for Claimant.
Mrs. J. Brown Ramanand (instructed by Judith Brown Ramanand & Co. for the Defendants
ANDERSON J
This is an application by way of a Fixed Date Claim Form pursuant to the provisions of The
Property (Rights of Spouse) Act.(“the Act”) The claim is brought by Paula Ann Sterling
(“the Claimant”) against her husband, Wayne Sterling (hereinafter “the Respondent” or “the
Defendant”). In this matter, the Claimant seeks a declaration that she is entitled to the entire
100% beneficial interest in property located at Lot 88, 10 Lorraine Drive, Gregory Park in
the Parish of St. Catherine. For his part, the Respondent opposes the application by the
Claimant and asks the court to declare that each party is entitled to a fifty per cent (50%)
interest in the property. The Claimant has filed an affidavit which seeks to detail the factual
basis for her claim to the entire beneficial interest in the property.
For reasons which will become apparent later, I should point out that this claim was filed by
the Claimant under the now repealed Married Women’s Property Act, an Act which had by
then been repealed and replaced by the Property (Rights of Spouses) Act 2004. When the
matter came on for hearing, the parties agreed that it should proceed and the matter be treated
as a claim under the Act. It was so ordered.