PHILIPSBURG--Representatives of the Notaries Association have underscored the need for legislation such as the draft law on inheritance and legacies to be uniform throughout the Dutch Kingdom because the justice system is the same.
Association President Henry Parisius told Members of Parliament (MPs) in Tuesday's Central Committee hearing on the law on inheritance and legacies that the association had given its opinion on the draft law in 2006.
The draft gives the surviving spouse the assets of the estate and the estate can be divided among the children only after the deaths of both spouses. This is a drastic change from the current law whereby a spouse is entitled to half plus a child's share of the estate and has no right of use of the family home on the death of his or her partner.
The inheritance law in use is "really, really old," Parisius pointed out, adding that it dated back to 1848.
The draft law has been pending since the time of the Netherlands Antilles Parliament. The notaries association represents all the notaries in what is now the former Netherlands Antilles and in Aruba.
He said, "We feel it is very important to have legislation for all the kingdom the same." If islands have different laws, it would become "increasingly difficult" to deal with and to fall back on case law.
Curaçao has already enacted the same changes to its Civil Code that are being debated here by MPs, as per January 1. With that change in mind, the Notaries Association already is preparing inheritance courses for its members to follow.
Democratic Party (DP) MP Roy Marlin raised questions about how undivided properties/assets would be dealt with. Parisius and Notary Meredith Boekhoudt explained that the draft law, once put into effect, would not be retroactive.
Independent MP Patrick Illidge and National Alliance (NA) MP Dr. Lloyd Richardson asked about encumbrances on properties, expropriation of land and the right to long lease. The notaries answered their queries, although they were off topic as was pointed out by MP William Marlin (NA).
William Marlin added that as the meeting was already off topic, he would talk about the topic of land expropriation, going back in St. Maarten's history to talk about expropriation of land for the Link 1 roadway. He said that case had been cited at that time as the first such case in the Netherlands Antilles.
His history lesson came after Notary Candidate Lars de Vries said land expropriation had been done only once in the history of the Netherlands Antilles. That case had to do with land for the building of Queen Juliana Bridge in Curaçao.
Dr. Richardson also did not agree that expropriation had been done only once in the Netherlands Antilles, saying he had been told by a surveyor that King Willem I had expropriated land in the 1800s to construct Rolandus Canal. The canal links Great Salt Pond and Great Bay and is still in use today. The MP said he had interest in that case because some family land had been affected.
Also present at the meeting for the Notaries Association were Notary Candidate Luz-Marie Tuitt and Notary Marlene Mingo.
The notaries will be back in Parliament today, Wednesday, at 4:00pm to give their opinion on the draft changes to the law on sole proprietorship together with St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce. The hearing will be broadcast live on St. Maarten Cable TV Channel 20, Pearl Radio FM 98.1 and the Internet via
www.pearlfmradio.com and
www.sxmparliament.org .
