High Court Dismisses Jasmine Hartin’s Custody Appeal

A Belize High Court judge has dismissed Jasmine Hartin’s appeal against a 2022 order giving the children’s father, Andrew Ashcroft, legal custody. She said there is nothing left for the court to decide.

Justice Nadine Nabie ruled that the appeal became pointless after a court in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) issued its own final custody order, which neither parent appealed.

“This appeal has therefore become academic, and it is struck out.”

The Belize Family Court gave Ashcroft legal custody of the couple’s two children on May 25, 2022. Hartin appealed the same day, arguing, among other things, that the magistrate should have stepped aside because of apparent bias. Ashcroft disputes that. The High Court didn’t rule on it.

Between May 25 and 28, 2022, Ashcroft took the children to the TCI. Hartin says she didn’t know about it and didn’t agree to it. Ashcroft says the Belize order gave him sole custody and the right to decide where they lived, and the judgement notes some evidence that he had told her earlier he planned to move. Nabie made no finding on whether the move was lawful.

In May 2023, Hartin applied for access to the children in the Providenciales Magistrate’s Court, and Ashcroft applied for custody about a week later. After roughly 15 months and a social worker’s report, Resident Magistrate Oreika Selver-Gardiner ruled on August 27, 2024. She gave Ashcroft custody and Hartin access: one week on and one week off during school terms, with holidays shared. The order stays in force until the children turn 18 unless it is changed.

Nabie said overturning the Belize order would not change who has custody today, widen Hartin’s access or bring the children back. The TCI order would still stand, and she said the High Court has no authority over TCI courts. Sending the case back to the Belize Family Court wouldn’t help either, she said, because the children no longer live in any Belize district and the evidence about their welfare is in the TCI.

The judge accepted Hartin’s explanation for her actions: “I accept the mother’s evidence that her principal reason for relocating and engaging the TCI process was to remain close to her children.” But she said that doesn’t change the fact that the TCI court heard both parents and made a final order.

Each side will pay its own costs.