PREMPEH vs. AGYEPONG

The appellant claimed entitlement to a disputed house under the beneficial dispensation of samansiw, asserting proprietary interest and that the deceased acted as trustee. The deceased, Joseph Kwasi Prempeh, had made an incomplete will which failed to meet statutory requirements. The respondent disputed the appellant's claim, asserting the deceased was lawfully married to another woman and that the appellant was merely a friend or cohabitant. The trial court found the house was self-acquired property of the deceased and accepted the document tendered as a valid samansiw. The Court of Appeal reversed this, declaring title in the appellant. The Supreme Court reviewed the validity of the samansiw, the marital status of the appellant, and the applicability of the Intestate Succession Law, 1985 (PNDCL 111).

JUDGMENT OF FRANCIOS JSC. There is only one issue of importance in this matter and that is whether the appellant is entitled to the disputed house No 24, Block B, Asokwa, Kumasi under the beneficial dispensation of samansiw. Two other matters have been debated but they are inconsequential and may be dismissed briefly. First, is the appellant’s proprietary claim to the disputed house with the correlated request that the court treat the deceased as a trustee acting in her interest whenever title was in issue. The facts belie such a claim. The trial judge made a clear and decisive finding that the vendor-owner sold the property to the deceased who purchased it in his own right. The judge was amply supported by the appellant’s own witness, as also the claim pressed by the deceased himself in exhibit C. The rejection of the appellant’s claim in the court’s conclusion which I quote below, cannot be successfully impugned. The judge said: “I find that from the totality of the e...