IN RE LARTEY (DECEASED); LARTEY v. AFFUTU-NARTEY

This appeal concerns the probate of the 1965 will of Bishop Solomon Dorme Lartey, a Ghanaian-born, naturalised Liberian, and leader of the A.M.E. Zion Church in Liberia, who left extensive assets in Liberia and Ghana. His widow, Alicia Ethel Lartey, named as sole executrix, obtained probate in Liberia and sought probate in Ghana to administer Ghana-based assets, filing the will, Liberian court papers, affidavits from both subscribing witnesses, and her executor’s oath. Although the High Court, Accra, initially granted probate on 17 June 1970, a purported younger brother of the deceased opposed and succeeded in having the grant set aside on procedural grounds concerning the executrix’s attorney; on review, the trial judge declared the attestation clause defective, limiting any grant to personalty and declaring intestacy for realty. The Court of Appeal, per Archer J.A., held that the attestation clause, reinforced by affidavits, satisfied Ghanaian execution requirements and, moreover, that the English Wills Act 1963—then applicable in Ghana as law for the time being in force in England—validated the will under multiple alternative internal laws. The court reinstated probate to the executrix, revoked the respondent’s letters of administration, ordered delivery of properties and accounts, and made no order as to costs.