ALI ANUM YEMOH v. HON. DAOUD ANUM YEMOH
2015
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
- KANYOKE J.A. (PRESIDING)
- LOVELACE-JOHNSON, J.A.
- SOWAH, J.A
Areas of Law
- Probate and Succession
2015
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The dispute centers on the administration of the estate of the late ANUM YEMOH. The plaintiff, as the sole executor, accused the defendant of unauthorized interference. The defendant successfully argued in the trial court that his actions were sanctioned by the family and necessary to recover estate land. The appellate court held that the recovered land did not fall within the testator’s residuary estate, as he was not the owner at death, and the trial court erred in authorizing the defendant to manage it. Key legal principles affirmed the necessity for formal probate or administration grants and condemned unauthorized estate administration actions.
SOWAH, J.A:
The parties herein are uterine brothers and children of the late ANUM YEMOH [hereinafter referred to as the deceased or testator] The appellant who was the plaintiff at the trial court issued a writ of summons claiming against the defendant as follows:
a. A declaration that the plaintiff is the sole and lawful executor of the Will of the late Anum Yemoh of Accra.
b. A declaration that plaintiff as the sole Executor is entitled to grant portions of the estate of the late Anum Yemoh.
c. A declaration that any grant by defendant forming part of the estate of the late Anum Yemoh is null and void.
d. An order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendant from holding himself as the Attorney, Agent or Administrator of the late Anum Yemoh family and granting portions of the land forming part of the estate of the late Anum Yemoh or collecting any revenue or ground rent accruing from the estate of the late Anum Yemoh.
e. An order compelling the defendant to account for all the proceeds emanating from the estate of the late Anum Yemoh which he has unlawfully collected.
f. Any order relief that may be just in the circumstance.
His case was that the deceased died testate on 21st March 1995 and probate of his Will was granted to him on 31st August 2004 as the sole surviving executor. However, the defendant had been representing himself to the general public as the lawful attorney of the deceased. Acting under a purported power of attorney, the defendant had redeemed land at Frafraha which formed part of the estate of the deceased and was dealing with the land without reference to the executor. An Anum Yemoh Foundation had also been set up unilaterally by the defendant; actions which the plaintiff said constituted interference with the estate.
The defendant [the respondent herein] denied that his actions constituted interference in the estate. His case was that before their father died, the Government had compulsorily acquired his land without compensation. As the plaintiff refused to take action to recover the land, the Anum Yemoh family authorized him to take legal action against the Government. He instituted Suit. No.L153/96 against the State and in 1997successfully obtained judgment for the return of Frafraha land to the Family. He has since been managing the land on behalf of the family and in accordance with the duty allotted to him by the Will. It was not until 9 years after the death of their father and 7 years after he had obtained