IN RE CANFOR (DECD.); CANFOR v. KPODO

In a dispute over the administration of the estate of Sydney Signate Canfor, Justice OLLENNU J.A. considered competing claims by Canfors widow, Nathalia Caesar Olympio, and his familyhis mother and uterine brother. Olympio sought a declaration that she was the lawful widow under a civil marriage celebrated at Lome, Togo on 19 May 1943, followed by a Roman Catholic ceremony, and asserted a twothirds statutory share under section 48 of Ghanas Marriage Ordinance with entitlement to letters of administration. The defendants admitted a marriage but asserted it was potentially polygamous/customary; that Canfor later married Margaret Akrobotu in Ghana and had two surviving children; and that the uterine brother had been appointed successor under customary law. The court held Ghana succession law governs, only an Ordinance (or Ghana enactment) marriage engages section 48, and foreign law must be pleaded and proved. Olympios evidence did not establish an Ordinance marriage; her claim was dismissed, and the uterine brother was held the proper administrator as between the parties.