If you are planning to adopt a child born in The Bahamas who does not have citizenship here or in another country, it is time to learn more about obtaining a Bahamian Belonger's Permit for your adopted child. The Belonger's Permit gives a legal status and documentation to children who are born in...
Blog Posts
Breach of Contract Basics in The Bahamas
Legally binding contracts keep modern society running, but not everyone realizes how easily contracts can be breached. From reviewing an employment contract before accepting a job to signing a commercial agreement to sell or buy goods, knowing how contracts work is essential to everyday life. A ...
Overview of Bahamian Investment Incentives
The Bahamas' government continually works to incentivize investment through legislation. Efforts to pass laws that best promote investment opportunities can lead to rapid changes in legislation, as in the recent enactment and subsequent repeal of the Grand Bahama (Port Area) Investment Incentives...
Awards of Damages for Emotional Distress in The Bahamas
In The Bahamas, people filing certain kinds of lawsuits may seek damages for emotional distress caused by another person. The request for damages may be made in relation to a claim for personal injury or other legal violation, or it may be made as a separate claim, as discussed below. For damage...
Injured in an Accident in The Bahamas? What to Do Next
If you have been injured in an accident in The Bahamas, figure out your legal and practical options as soon as possible. Injuries can cause permanent physical and financial harm, and seeking recovery in court for that harm can be a complex process. First, keep in mind that you have at most three...
International Arbitration: Is it Cost-Effective for Our Dispute?
International arbitration has become increasingly popular as a way to efficiently resolve cross-border disputes. In recent years, critics claim that the method costs too much and takes too long. Is international arbitration suited for your dispute? A lot may depend on the parties and their attorn...
If Probate Begins in Another Country, What Happens to Bahamian Property?
Owning property in more than one country will lead to a more complicated probate process. Often, the executor of a deceased person's estate will begin probate in one jurisdiction, only to learn while inventorying the estate that the deceased had property elsewhere. Any property located in another...
What Are Bahamian Letters of Administration?
To administer the estate of a person who dies without a will, you must obtain letters of administration from the court. Someone who dies without making a will or dies with a will in place that is not valid under Bahamian law has died “intestate”. Since a person who dies intestate has not appointe...
Beginning the Probate Process in The Bahamas
When a relative or friend dies, one of the hardest tasks can be settling the estate. Figuring out who inherits which assets and in what amounts is part of the probate process in The Bahamas and is managed by the court. People who die with valid wills in place rely on the executor(s) of their wil...
Conflicts of Interest for Professionals in The Bahamas
Conflicts of interest cause the appearance of partiality or favouritism and can harm clients. Professionals should therefore work to avoid them. Smaller client bases in smaller populations or firms that take on many different clients raise the chances for a conflict of interest. Like in many othe...
When to Use a Company Limited by Guarantee
Companies limited by guarantee formed under either the Companies Act of the International Business Companies Act have a variety of uses and goals. In these companies, members' liability is limited by an amount that is specified in the memorandum of association, only to be contributed should the c...
What Is a Company Limited by Shares and by Guarantee?
The Bahamas' Companies Act and International Business Companies Act, 2000 allow for the incorporation of four different types of companies. These include a company limited by shares, a company limited by guarantee, a company limited by shares and by guarantee, and a company with unlimited liabili...
Why You Need an Enduring Power of Attorney
An enduring power of attorney protects your affairs in case you have a serious illness or mental incapacity. Like other types of powers of attorney, the enduring power of attorney is a legally recognized document in which you state that you wish to appoint another person to act as your agent and ...
How to Evaluate Whether Your Employees Are Managers
In The Bahamas, employees who work in a managerial or supervisory position do not receive overtime pay. There are different requirements for notice and pay if you terminate these employees or make them redundant. Further, if they successfully challenge their dismissal as wrongful, they may not re...
Requirements for Securities Firm Staff in The Bahamas
Workers at firms that carry on securities business in The Bahamas must meet certain legal requirements, particularly if they are advising clients about securities. If you are looking for a securities broker or investment advisor, make sure the person you choose is following the law. If you are tr...
What Is an Authorised Purpose Trust?
The laws of The Bahamas recognize creation of an Authorised Purpose Trust, which is a unique type of trust with a non-standard beneficiary. In fact, Authorised Purpose Trusts usually do not have a single named beneficiary or group of beneficiaries. Instead they exist with the purpose of furtherin...
Overdue Child Maintenance Payments? Your Next Steps
If your ex-wife or ex-husband owes child maintenance payments, take action quickly to recover the payments. Although you may hesitate to seek court intervention due to fear that the non-custodial parent will involve your children in the dispute or stop spending time with your children, delay may ...
What Happens If You Die in The Bahamas Without a Will?
A will is a legal document that explains in writing how a person wants his assets to be distributed after his death. There are specific requirements for a will to be legally valid. It must be in writing and signed by the person making it, it must be signed in the presence of two independent witne...
Required Rest Periods for Bahamian Employees
In The Bahamas, employees may not work an excessive number of hours or days in the week without taking required rest and meal periods. Generally, the “standard hours of work” are eight hours in one day or forty hours in one week. Employees who have irregular hours due to the nature of their emplo...
Who Owns Money Deposited in a Joint Bank Account?
In a recent decision, the Privy Council considered whether money held in a joint bank account passes to the survivor upon the death of one of the accountholders, or whether the money goes to the deceased accountholder's estate. Whitlock and another v Moree [2017] UKPC 44. The account holder who d...
Anti-Money Laundering: Reporting Suspicious Transactions
Financial institutions in The Bahamas have an obligation to report suspicious transactions to the authorities. The reporting requirement serves to keep personnel alert to potential money laundering and to provide adequate notice to the authorities so that they can investigate whether money launde...
How Are Families of Companies Treated in Insolvency Proceedings?
In The Bahamas, families of companies may seek relief from the courts for insolvency. Families of companies include a parent company and subsidiaries or a series of closely related companies doing business with one another. Unlike in some other countries, The Bahamas does not permit joint insolve...
Exchange Control: How Does It Work?
Exchange control in The Bahamas affects all foreign currency transactions between Bahamian residents and residents of foreign countries. It is a series of rules that restrict the movement of foreign currency to and from The Bahamas. Companies doing business in or with The Bahamas should be aware ...
Bahamian Work Permits
Non-Bahamian citizens must acquire work permits before they can perform work for an employer in The Bahamas. The government only issues work permits under specific conditions, so expatriates seeking work here should ensure that they follow Labour Department and Department of Immigration procedure...
How Bahamian Laws Promote Modern Business Communication
The Bahamas has worked to modernize its laws for the digital age by adding provisions that promote modern business communication. For example, the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act and the Data Protection (Privacy of Personal Information) Act address the increasingly frequent role th...