KWAME YEBOAH FREMPONG & ORS v. OBENEWAA FREMPONG & ORS
2019
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- HIS LORDSHIP JUSTICE KWEKU T. ACKAAH-BOAFO
Areas of Law
- Wills and Probate
- Evidence
2019
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The court has found that the Plaintiffs failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove that the Will of the late Frempong Kofi Yeboah was forged or improperly executed. Consequently, the case brought by the Plaintiffs is dismissed, and the Will is upheld as valid.
JUDGMENT
i. Introduction:
[1] There are no “winners” in this litigation. While a judgment such as this may bring elation to either the Plaintiffs or the Defendants that justice has been served, there can be no assurance that the relationship between the parties herein will be completely ever repaired. This is a case between brothers as Plaintiffs and their sisters as Defendants. And the subject matter of the dispute is the Last Will and Testament of their late father, Frempong Kofi Yeboah deceased. In my respectful opinion the fact that the deceased left a property in his name for his children and taking into consideration the Deceased’s life worth and accomplishments as presented to the Court, his life ought to have been celebrated rather than his passing being litigated by his children.
[2] Quite clearly, this is one case that is most suited for the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) program especially because all the parties are of the same nuclear family. It is certainly a case of fractured relationships and I am of the respectful view that mediation could have provided the soothing balm the parties need to mend their relationship at a time that they have lost a stalwart of their family. It is therefore a sad case that they did not avail themselves to mediation in spite of the availability of that option. The Court notes that after the evidence and before judgment, it was revealed that the 1st Plaintiff, who testified for and on behalf of the Plaintiffs has also passed. Undoubtedly, this litigation has not contributed markedly to the happiness of any of the parties herein and so I can only hope that they shall work within the framework of this judgment to once again remind themselves that they are all the children of Frempong Kofi Yeboah and live as such.
[3] This suit was instituted by the Plaintiffs against the Defendants as a result of an alleged fraud and forgery of the Last Will and Testament of the late Frempong Kofi Yeboah (deceased). According to the Plaintiffs the deceased did not execute the alleged Will.
Ii Brief Facts/Background
[4] The facts of the case are that after the death of the father of the Parties herein, the 1st Plaintiff and the 1st Defendant applied for Letters of Administration with the belief that the deceased died intestate to administer his estate. According to the Plaintiffs the 2nd Defendant herein later filed a caveat against the grant of the application on the grounds that a search conducted at the Court