July 29, 1998
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
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ACQUAH, J.S.C.:
This is an appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal dated 11th December, 1997 reversing an Accra High Court’s order which refused an application to intervene in a probate action under Order 6 rule 3 of the Probate and Administration Rules 1991 (L.I. 1515). The parties would where necessary be referred to in the manner they appeared at the trial High Court.
The plaintiff, Mr. Leslie Rodney Nii Lantey Heward-Mills, issued a writ of summons against the defendants—Mrs. Alberta Ollenu and Mr. Trebi Ollenu—for
1. A declaration that the purported Will of Mr. Albert Gillies Heward-Mills (deceased) dated 11th December, 1939 and the purported codicil thereto dated 3rd January 1950 upon both of which probate was granted on 23rd June 1965 were fraudulently made being forgeries and therefore a fraud on the estate of the said Albert Gillies Heward-Mills and are therefore Null and Void.
2. Any relief or reliefs as in the circumstances may be just.
In his accompanying statement of claim, the plaintiff claimed to be one of the sons of the late A.G. Heward-Mills, deceased, and that he was instituting the action as an “unsatisfied beneficiary” under his father’s estate. He also claimed that the defendants were being sued as executors and trustees by representation of the said deceased A.G. Heward-Mills, they being in fact the executors of the late Nii Amaa Ollenu, who was the last surviving executor of the alleged Will and Codicil of the late A.G. Heward-Mills. He stated that the alleged Will and Codicil, probate of which was granted in 1965, were recently subjected to forensic laboratory tests both in Ghana and England, and that these tests turned out to establish that the signatures on the alleged Will and Codicil were forgeries. And as forgeries, they were in law a nullity. In his view, this constituted a fraud on the beneficiaries and the state. Hence the action.
In their statement of defence, the defendants put the plaintiff to strict proof on a number of issues including the contention that the Will and Codicil were forgeries.
Now on the very day that the defendants filed their statement of defence, that was 15th October 1996, twelve persons, eight of whom claimed to be the children of the late A.G. Heward-Mills (deceased) applied under order 6 rule 3 of LI 1515 for leave to intervene in the suit. In their supporting affidavit sworn to by one Dr. Nii Afla Heward Mills, the respective standing of each of the twelve applicants was expla
AI Generated Summary
The Supreme Court of Ghana (per Acquah, J.S.C.) dismissed an appeal by Mr. Leslie Rodney Nii Lantey Heward-Mills challenging a unanimous Court of Appeal decision that had permitted twelve beneficiaries—including several children of the late Albert Gillies Heward-Mills—to intervene in a probate action. Leslie Heward-Mills sued Mrs. Alberta Ollenu and Mr. Trebi Ollenu, executors by representation of the last surviving executor Justice Nii Amaa Ollenu, seeking a declaration that the late A.G. Heward-Mills’s Will (1939) and codicil (1950) were forged, relying on forensic tests in Ghana and England. The Supreme Court held the suit is a probate action under Order 6 rule 1, and that Order 6 rule 3 allows any person with an interest—even a potential one—to intervene upon affidavit showing their interest. The Court emphasized beneficiaries’ interests may differ from executors’ and noted the record showed representation at the Court of Appeal hearing. Affirming the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court allowed intervention and dismissed the appeal.