IN RE AGYEMANG (DECD.); ADDAE v. FOSUAH

JUDGMENT OF ANNAN J.

The plaintiff-applicant is the eldest child of Ama Agyemang, the deceased and the granddaughter of the defendant-caveatrix Yaa Fosuah. Ama Agyemang was the daughter of the defendant. Sometime after the death of Ama Agyemang, her daughter, the plaintiff, applied to this court for letters of administration to administer the estate of her mother who died intestate. She filed an affidavit in support of her motion in which she said that she was the customary successor of the deceased and that she was appointed by the unanimous consent of the family. She did not file any affidavit by the head of family to support her statement that she was the person appointed by the family as customary successor. After notices had been filed, the defendant entered a caveat and in her affidavit of interest she stated that after the death of Ama Agyemang, the principal members of her family met and appointed her as the lawful successor to the estate of the deceased. Subsequently an order was made and the applicant filed a statement of claim (without issuing a writ) in terms of the order of the court, and the defendant filed a defence.

The single issue which was set down for trial was:

"Whether or not the applicant-plaintiff is better entitled to the letters of administration than the caveatrix the defendant."

The evidence adduced in support of the plaintiff's claim is that of her father and her nineteen-year-old brother. The plaintiff is a young [p.521] woman who gave her age as twenty years (her father put her age at 22 years). She has two children and is the eldest of the eight children of her mother. She said she was appointed customary successor to her mother by the family in the presence of and with the concurrence of the defendant and their head of family Opanin Kwasi Mensah at a family meeting at Kunsu Wiawso, the hometown of the deceased. According to the plaintiff her appointment was by the whole family at Kunso Wiawso and she gave the name of the principal members who were present, apart from the defendant and the head of family, as her uncle Kojo, Adu Atwanema, Kwame Nuamah and her grand-mother, Abena Tiah, sister of the defendant. This appointment took place on the fortieth day and the family, including the defendant, told her to cook in her mother's kitchen and look after her brothers and sisters, and take good care of her mother's personal effects.

According to the plaintiff some time after her appointment she was told by her father that