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July 6, 2023
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
ADJEI-FRIMPONG, J .A:
The quest of this appeal is devoid of any complexity. We are simply to decide whether the learned trial judge was right in the manner she distributed certain properties she had found to be jointly acquired during the subsistence of the marriage between the parties herein.
The matter went before the trial court after the customary marriage between the parties had already been dissolved out of court.
The parties contracted their customary marriage in Accra 1n 2001. Thereafter, they cohabited in Accra and then in the United States of America. The marriage produced three children, Tasmine, Jermaine and Tiffany.
In 2011, the woman presented customary drinks to the man's family in Ghana to signify the dissolution of the marriage. The events of the dissolution and the cause of it, are not material to the determination of this appeal. Even at the trial, both sides appeared satisfied that the marriage had been duly dissolved. The point was theref0re not contested.
What remained unresolved was settlement of certain properties supposed to have been acquired during the subsistence of the marriage. The man had contended that, after the dissolution of the marriage, the woman exhibited an intention to exclusively hold on to their jointly acquired properties as her own. He therefore commenced the action at the court below seeking the following reliefs:
(a)A declaration that the plaintiff is entitled to beneficial interest and equal share in the following properties which the parties jointly acquired during the subsistence of the marriage;
(i) HI No. 458 situate and lying at Ogbojo, East Legan-Accra in the Greater Accra Region;
(ii) Two shops on Plot No. 12, Block 7, Nsawam Road, Avenor-› Accra in the Greater Accra Region;
(iii) Leasehold interest in a plot of land situate and lying at La› Bawaleshie in the Greater Accra Region.
(b)An order directed at the defendant to execute transfer document to the plaintiff on the plot of land situate at Ogbojo, East Legan-Accra, which the plaintiff purchased from the defendant prior to the mamage;
(c) And any other relief the Honourable Court may deem fit."
The woman resisted the man's claim to any share in the properties listed. According to her, the property No. 458 situate at Ogbojo, East Legan-Accra, which had served as their matrimonial home belonged to her exclusively. She claimed she acquired the land before her marriage to the man and used her tax claims whilst working in the USA to complete t
AI Generated Summary
Justice Richard Adjei-Frimpong of the Ghana Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by a man challenging a trial court’s post-divorce property distribution. The parties married customarily in Accra in 2001, later lived in Ghana and the United States, and had three children—Tasmine, Jermaine, and Tiffany. After the woman dissolved the marriage in 2011, the man sued for equal shares in the matrimonial home at Ogbojo, two shops at Nsawam Road, and a leasehold at La-Bawaleshie; the woman asserted sole ownership and claimed the man took a Nissan Infiniti and VW Beetle and withdrew USD 50,000 from Merchant Bank Accra. The trial judge found the properties jointly acquired, determined equal sharing, but settled the entire matrimonial home on the woman to promote continuity of care for the children, compensating the man with the vehicles, Bawaleshie land, and a shop. On appeal, the court held the welfare principle under the Children’s Act and broad powers under the Matrimonial Causes Act justify accommodation orders, rejected the need for evidence of special needs, found no proof of inequity without valuations, and declined to distribute uncertain Nmaidjor plots. Costs of GH¢10,000 were awarded against the appellant, with Justices P. Bright Mensah and Prof. Anku-Tsede concurring.