GROWING PRESENCE COURT HOUSE ON SABA

In the near future, Sabans will no longer have to make the trip to St. Maarten to file petitions or pay their court fees at the Court House in Philipsburg. Per October 1, 2019, the Joint Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten and of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba started a new service whereby a Court Recorder will come to Saba once a month.

The decision to have a Court Recorder come in from St. Maarten once a month to conduct administrative handlings is the result of consultations between the Court and Saba’s Executive Council and the wish of the Ministry of Justice and the Public Entity Saba to have a stronger presence of the Joint Court of Justice on Saba. The Court Recorder will be present to solely handle administrative matters, not to give legal advice on the content of cases. The Court Recorder will be able to receive petitions, to receive payments and to answer questions regarding submitting court documents for cases on Saba. Persons that would like to start a court case or submit a general petition regarding a legal matter can now do so on Saba. This can for example be a petition in family law related matters, such as a custody arrangement, divorce or alimony matters or even in other civil law matters, such as small claims or other contractual disputes.  A local administrative employee of the Public Entity Saba will be present to learn what the work entails, so possibly in the future this person can be appointed as the Court’s administrative representative on Saba.

“This new service means an improvement for the residents of Saba when in their contacts with the Court. It is yet another most welcome improvement in providing services to the people,” said Island Governor Jonathan Johnson.  The cooperation between the Court and the Public Entity Saba will be evaluated after six months to see if the project can turn into a more permanent presence and service of the Court on Saba.

The schedule for the initial period is as follows:

GIS Saba