[1988]DLHC2064 • January 29, 1988 • High Court
APPIAH vs. BIANI
The plaintiff, Mrs. Rose Lily Appiah, widow of the late Joseph Kwame Appiah, brought an originating summons on behalf of herself and her three infant children against the deceased's mother, Madam Ama Biani. The dispute concerned an uncompleted storey building owned by the deceased at the time of his death. The plaintiff sought to have the property vested in her and the children under the Intestate Succession Law, 1985 (PNDCL 111). The defendant claimed to have contributed ¢500,000 towards the construction and asserted joint ownership or family property status of the building.
read moreJUDGMENT OF LUTTERODT J This originating summons is brought by the widow of the late Joseph Kwame Appiah, Mrs. Rose Lily Appiah, on behalf of herself and her three infant children against the mother of the deceased, Madam Ama Biani. At the time the deceased died he was said to be possessed, among other things, of an uncompleted building which is a storey building and which had reached lintel level. It was when the plaintiff’s counsel’s letter sought to have this property vested in the plaintiff that a dispute arose as to whether this building is a house within the meaning of the Intestate Succession Law, 1985 (PNDCL 111), s 4 (see exhibit A attached to the affidavit). Consequently, the plaintiff caused her solicitors to issue this originating summons for a determination of the following: (a) whether upon the true construction of section 4 of PNDCL 111 an uncompleted house is a house; (b) whether upon the true construction of section 4 of PNDCL 111 the uncompleted house of the la...