GRACE ANSAH & ANOTHER v. GERTRUDE BOYE & ANOTHER

JUDGMENT

AMMA A. GAISIE J.A:

This appeal is against the judgment of the High Court, Industrial & Labour Division, Accra dated the 12th March 2018 by which judgment was entered for the Defendants/Respondents.

The Plaintiffs, by a Writ of Summons issued out of the High Court on 28th January 2011 claimed against the Defendant:

“A declaration that House Number M888/1, Madina Estates, Accra belongs to the estate of the late Joseph Boye (deceased”).

In their statement of claim filed the same day, the Plaintiffs describe themselves as the “intended administrators” of the estate of the late Joseph Ansah Boye (Deceased). The Plaintiffs are the wife and son of the late Joseph Boye respectively while the Defendants are the children of the late Gideon Titi Boye (Deceased) one of the sons of the late Joseph Boye and therefore the grandchildren of the said Joseph Boye.

The Plaintiffs case at the High Court was that their father, Joseph Ansah Boye died on 12th September 2005 and at the time of his death he was the owner of House Number M888/1, Madina Estates, Accra. Plaintiffs claim that their father purchased the land from the Chief of Ogbodjo in 1982 and immediately commenced building on it. The Plaintiffs claim further that at the time the late Joseph Boye was putting up the building he engaged the services of his son Gideon Titi Boye (also deceased) as a driver of his commercial vehicle and tasked him to use the proceeds of the vehicle to complete the construction of the building.

The Plaintiffs claim that upon the death of Joseph Ansah Boye, they were granted Letters of Administration on 7th July 2009 to administer the estate of Joseph Boye but the Defendant’s caveated the grant claiming that the said property belonged to their father Gideon Titi Boye. The Plaintiffs contend that the property belongs to the estate of Joseph Ansah Boye and therefore they sought a declaration that House Number M888/1, Madina Estates belongs to the late Joseph Ansah Boye.

The Defendants deny the Plaintiffs claim and contend that no family ever met to appoint the Plaintiffs administrators of the estate of the late Joseph Ansah Boye who is their grandfather. They also contend that it was their late father Gideon Titi Boye who acquired the land in dispute and built on same. The Defendants contend further that their late father made a death bed declaration in which he bequeathed the house in dispute to his children, the Defendants and their younger brother Samuel Boye. They therefo