[1976]DLHC370 • May 6, 1976 • High Court
BENTSI-ENCHILL vs. BENTSI-ENCHILL
The parties, both legal practitioners, were married under the Marriage Ordinance on 21 August 1971 and divorced on 12 December 1974 due to irreconcilable breakdown. During the marriage, they lived at No. 1 Palm Lands Estate, Sekondi (Villa Afrique). The husband purchased a flat at No. 8/12 Lagoon Road, Sekondi, where he allowed his mother-in-law to live rent-free. After separation, the wife moved into the flat with her mother and refused to vacate after the divorce, claiming it as the matrimonial home and asserting her right to reside there with custody of their child, Ekua. The husband requested her to leave, leading to legal proceedings over possession.
read moreJUDGMENT OF SARKODEE J. Husband and wife, both legal practitioners, were married under the Marriage Ordinance Cap. 127 (1951 Rev.), on 21 August 1971. The marriage was dissolved on 12 December 1974, on the ground that it had broken down beyond reconciliation. During the subsistence of the marriage, at least for the first few years, the husband and wife lived and cohabited at No. 1 Palm Lands Estate, Sekondi, also called Villa Afrique. The husband purchased a flat in house No. 8/12, Lagoon Road, Sekondi, in which he later permitted his mother-in-law, the wife’s mother, who was without suitable accommodation to live gratuitously. Subsequently the wife left Villa Afrique and joined her mother at the flat. The husband after the dissolution of the marriage requested the wife and her mother to leave the flat. The wife refused to give up possession, contending that the said flat was her matrimonial home and that she was entitled as of right to stay there with twenty-month-old Eku.....