Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 23

Summary: - The challenged judgment’s finding that the guardian manipulated the minor girl’s account balances, transferred them to his personal account, spent much of her money on law and accounting firms without justification, and did not provide supporting documentation for what he claimed to have spent. This impugns his trustworthiness and threatens the minor girl’s funds, requiring the removal of his guardianship over her and the appointment of the Department of Minors’ Affairs as her guardian. Rule: It is established—in the jurisprudence of the Court of Cassation—that the court of the merits has authority to understand the facts of the action, assess the evidence—including experts’ reports and documents—and determine whether serious grounds exist giving rise to apprehension of harm to a minor’s funds, provided that it bases its judgment on sound reasons grounded in the papers and sufficient to support it. It is established from the papers and the report of the expert appointed in the action that the appellant manipulated the minor girl’s account balances, transferred them to his private and joint accounts, spent much of her money on law and accounting firms without justification, and did not provide supporting documentation for the amounts totalling 209317 Kuwaiti dinars of the minor girl’s funds that he claimed to have spent on zakat. His actions as described above impugn his trustworthiness in this guardianship and threaten the minor girl’s funds with harm, requiring a judgment removing his guardianship over her and appointing the Department of Minors’ Affairs as her guardian. As the judgment under appeal reached this conclusion, it must be upheld and the 2 appeals dismissed, for its reasons and for the reasons stated by this Court.