{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/guardianship-of-minors-act-1971/section-15",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/guardianship-of-minors-act-1971/section-15.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/1971/3",
  "legislation_title": "Guardianship of Minors Act 1971",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/guardianship-of-minors-act-1971",
  "path": "section/15",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "15",
  "heading": "Courts having jurisdiction under this Act.",
  "text": "(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, “the court” for the purposes of this Act means—\n(a) the High Court;\n(b) the county court of the district in which the respondent (or any of the respondents) or the applicant or the minor to whom the application relates resides; or\n(c) a magistrates’ court appointed for the commission area (within the meaning of the Justices of the Peace Act 1979)\n(1) Subject to the provisions of this section “the court” for the purposes of this Act means the High Court, any county court or any magistrates’ court, except that provision may be made by rules of court that in the case of such applications to a county court, or such applications to a magistrates’ court, as are prescribed, only such county courts, or as the case may be such magistrates’ courts, as are prescribed shall be authorised to hear those applications.\n(2) A magistrates’ court shall not be competent to entertain—\n(a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n(b) any application involving the administration or application of any property belonging to or held in trust for a minor, or the income thereof.\n(2A) lt is hereby declared that any power conferred on a magistrates’ court under this Act is exercisable notwithstanding that any party to the proceedings is residing outside England and Wales.\n(2B) Where any party to the proceedings on an application to a magistrates’ court under this Act resides outside the United Kingdom and does not appear at the time and place appointed for the hearing of the application, the court shall not hear the application unless it is proved to the satisfaction of the court, in such manner as is prescribed, that such steps as are prescribed have been taken to give to that party notice of the application and of the time and place appointed for the hearing of it.\n(2C) In this section “prescribed” means prescribed by rules of court.\n(3) A county court or magistrates’ court shall not have jurisdiction under this Act in any case where the respondent or any of the respondents resides in Scotland or Northern Ireland—\n(a) except in so far as such jurisdiction may be exercisable by virtue of the following provisions of this section; or\n(b) unless a summons or other originating process can be served and is served on the respondent or, as the case may be, on the respondents in England or Wales.\n(4) An order under this Act giving the legal custody of a minor to a person resident in England or Wales, whether with or without an order requiring payments to be made towards the minor’s maintenance, may be made, if one parent resides in Scotland or Northern Ireland and the other parent and the minor in England or Wales, by a magistrates’ court appointed for the commission area (within the meaning of the Justices of the Peace Act 1979) in which the other parent resides.\n(5) It is hereby declared that a magistrates’ court has jurisdiction—\n(a) in proceedings under this Act by a person residing in Scotland or Northern Ireland against a person residing in England or Wales for an order relating to the legal custody of a minor (including, . . . , an order requiring payments to be made towards the minor’s maintenance);\n(b) in proceedings by or against a person residing in Scotland or Northern Ireland for the revocation, revival or variation of any such order.\n(6) Where proceedings for an order under subsection (1) of section 9 of this Act relating to the legal custody of a minor are brought in a magistrates’ court by a person residing in Scotland or Northern Ireland, the court shall have jurisdiction to make any order in respect of the minor under that section on the application of the respondent in the proceedings.",
  "extent": "E+W",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Words substituted by Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Courts Act 1978 (c. 22, SIF 49:3), s. 47(1), Sch. 1"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Words substituted by Justices of the Peace Act 1979 (c. 55, SIF 82), s. 71, Sch. 2 para. 16"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "S. 15(1) appearing second substituted (prosp.) for s. 15(1) appearing first by Family Law Act 1986 (c. 55, SIF 49:3), ss. 68(1), 69(3), Sch. 1 para. 10(2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F4",
      "text": "S. 15(2)(a repealed by Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Courts Act 1978 (c. 22, SIF 49:3), s. 38(1), Sch. 1"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F5",
      "text": "S. 15(2A)–(2C) inserted (prosp.) by Family Law Act 1986 (c. 55, SIF 49:3), s. 68(1), 69(3), Sch. 1 para. 10(3)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F6",
      "text": "S. 15(3)–(6) repealed (prosp.) by Family Law Act 1986 (c. 55, SIF 49:3), ss. 68(1), 69(3), Sch. 1 para. 10(4), Sch. 2"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F7",
      "text": "Words substituted by Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Courts Act 1978 (c. 22, SIF 49:3), s. 36(1)(a), Sch. 1"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F8",
      "text": "Words substituted by Guardianship Act 1973 (c. 29, SIF 49:9), s. 2(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I para. 3(2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F9",
      "text": "Words substituted by Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Courts Act 1978 (c. 22, SIF 49:3), s. 47(1), Sch. 1"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F10",
      "text": "Words substituted by Justices of the Peace Act 1979 (c. 55, SIF 82), s. 71, Sch. 2 para. 16"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F11",
      "text": "Words repealed by Guardianship Act 1973 (c. 29, SIF 49:9), s. 2(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I para. 3(3)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F12",
      "text": "Words substituted by Guardianship Act 1973 (c. 29, SIF 49:9), s. 2(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I para. 3(3)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F13",
      "text": "Words substituted by Guardianship Act 1973 (c. 29, SIF 49:9), s. 2(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I para. 3(4)"
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M1",
      "text": "1979 c. 55 (82)."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M2",
      "text": "1979 c. 55(82)."
    },
    {
      "type": "C",
      "label": "C1",
      "text": "S. 15(1)–(3) extended by Guardianship Act 1973 (c. 29, SIF 49:9), s. 1(6)"
    },
    {
      "type": "C",
      "label": "C2",
      "text": "S. 15(1)–(3) extended by Guardianship Act 1973 (c. 29, SIF 49:9), s. 1(6)"
    },
    {
      "type": "C",
      "label": "C3",
      "text": "S. 15(3)–(6) set out as amended by Guardianship Act 1973 (c. 29) in Sch. 2 Pt. II to that Act"
    },
    {
      "type": "C",
      "label": "C4",
      "text": "S. 15(4)–(6) extended by Guardianship Act 1973 (c. 29, SIF 49:9), s. 4(3)"
    },
    {
      "type": "X",
      "label": "X1",
      "text": "S. 15(1) appearing second substituted (prosp.) for s. 15(1) appearing first by Family Law Act 1986 (c. 55, SIF 49:3), ss. 68(1), 69(3), Sch. 1 para. 10(2)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/3/section/15",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T10:50:31.584839+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}