Spouse/children of persons who registered but died can uplift their cash grants – Nandlall

The government’s cash grant distribution is ongoing in several parts of the country and as it continues, some questions are being raised by citizens. According to Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, one of those questions relates to persons who have died between the registration period and the issuance of the cheques.

During his weekly programme ‘Issues in the News’ on Tuesday evening, the AG assured that those cheques can be uplifted by a spouse or a child of the deceased person in accordance with the Deceased Persons Estates’ Administration Act.

“What you have to do is to show evidence of death – so the death certificate should be produced – and the person who is seeking to obtain the money must be either the surviving spouse or a child of the deceased,” he explained.

The Act was amended in 2024 authorising the spouse or child of a deceased person to have access to sums belonging to their deceased relative whether the sum is kept in a bank, a Coop Society, a company, or a government organisation. Under the new law, individuals can access upto $750,000.

For a child to uplift the cash grant cheque at the place of distribution, they will be required to present their birth certificate while a married certificate will serve as proof for a spouse.

In cases of common law relationships, the AG noted that a second person would be needed to attest to the relationship between the deceased spouse and the person attempting to uplift the cheque.

“In our law we recognise common law marriages so bring forth anyone who can support your contention that you were in a common law union with the deceased but the deceased must be single…because the married wife will have precedence over the common law wife,” he explained.

According to Nandlall, over 500,000 cheques have already distributed thus far.

Despite complaints about the process in some areas, he said the initiative recorded an overall success.

“An exercise of this magnitude, an exercise of this unprecedented nature will inevitably encounter difficulties… We are not ashamed to accept the difficulties we encounter but compared with the successes- for every 1 transaction that had some difficulty, 200 succeeded,” he expressed.

In addition, the AG criticised persons who have been spreading rumors that the cheque is valid for three days. He noted that a cheque is valid for six months and a Bank of Guyana cheque can be valid for an even longer period, if so authorised by the government.