Not anyone can request a Court document.

Pursuant to Section 14(4) of the Maintenance Act in determining the amount and duration of support, the Court shall consider all the circumstances of the parties including the matters specified in sections 5(2), 9(2) or 10(2),

5 (2) In determining the amount and duration of support to be given, to a spouse under a maintenance order, the Court shall have regard to the following matters in addition to the matters specified in section 14(4)-

(a) the length of time of the marriage or cohabitation;

Pursuant to Section 11 of the Maintenance Act, A Court may, on application by or on behalf of a dependent, order the respondent named in the application to maintain that dependent in making such an order, the Court shall, where the order is a monetary order, determine the amount to be paid thereunder.

It should be noted that once a child has been adopted their former identity is no longer admissible and their former birth record is sealed.

Birth parents have to agree by giving their consent to adopt, unless:

            (1)  they are dead, in this scenario evidence of their death will have to be provided;

            (2)  children are wards of the state;

            (3)  birth parents cannot be found; at which time evidence of attempts made to locate them for                    example advertisement in the local newspaper must be provided;

There are two types of Adoption Procedures available in Jamaica. One is the application for an adoption order which is completion of an adoption in Jamaica and the other is an application for a license which is given for the child to be released to citizens of scheduled countries to be adopted abroad.

For a child to be adopted he or she must be over six (6) weeks and under the age of eighteen (18) years.  Application must be tendered to the CPFSA at least six (6) months before the child attains their eighteenth birthday.

The Adoption Board is the only body that has responsibility for adoption of children in Jamaica. This service is undertaken for the Board by the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) who processes all applications.

The criminal records of jurors are checked at the initial stage of preparing the names of persons            who are qualified to sit on a jury at the provisional settlement of the Jury list.  The Parish Court Judge, Police officers and Justices of the peace are involved in this process.

No person who-

(a)        is not a Commonwealth citizen; or

(b)       Cannot speak, read and write English; or

(c)        is at the date on which he is required to serve as a juror-

(i)  a person awaiting trial in a Parish Court for an indictable offense; or

(ii)  a person in respect of whom a preliminary inquiry into an indictable offense is pending or who has been committed for trial for such an offense; or

Subject to subsections (2), (3) and (4) of the Jury Act, any person who resides in Jamaica and has attained the age of eighteen years but is under the age of seventy years, is qualified and liable to serve on juries if -

The person's name is on any current official list of electors for elections to the House of Representatives; or

The person is registered under section 17D of the Revenue Administration Act.