[1991]DLCA2218 • May 9, 1991 • Court of Appeal
BADU AND ANOTHER vs. KRA
The dispute concerns ownership of house No. NT 78, Akim Oda. The plaintiff claimed the house was self-acquired property of his late father, Kwaku Abeh, who bequeathed it to his children by will. The defendants, nephews and customary successors of the deceased, contended the property was family property acquired from proceeds of inherited family farms. The will was initially resisted by family members but later read in court, and letters of administration with the will annexed were obtained by the plaintiff. The defendant had been collecting rents from the property, prompting the plaintiff to seek declaration of title and accounts.
read moreJUDGMENT OF ESSIEM JA. The only point in controversy between the parties in this litigation is the ownership of house No. NT 78, Akim Oda. It was the case of the plaintiff that the said house was the self-acquired property of his late father while the defendant and co-defendant contended that the plaintiff’s father acquired that property from proceeds of certain family properties he had inherited during his lifetime and therefore the property was family property. The plaintiff’s father, Kwaku Abeh, made a will and bequeathed this particular property to the plaintiff and his brothers and sisters, ie the children of the late Kwaku Abeh. The defendant and co-defendant are nephews of the late Kwaku Abeh who died on 20 September 1985. The plaintiff admits that the co-defendant, Kwaku Boadi also known as Kwaku Dauda, was his father’s customary successor. During the funeral celebrations of the plaintiff’s father, a lawyer came to Ofoase where the funeral was being celebrated to rea...