[2024]DLSC17404 • February 28, 2024 • Supreme Court •
HANNA OKYERE ALIAS, JIM OKYERE ALIAS YAW YEBOAH vs. JAMES OKYERE, FLORENCE DARKO OKYERE
The dispute arose from a customary gift of landed property by the late Opanyin Kwaku Okyere to his wife and children, including the plaintiffs and the 1st defendant. The 1st defendant later purported to gift the same property solely to himself, registered it in his name, mortgaged it, and settled it on his ex-wife (2nd defendant) in a divorce settlement. The plaintiffs contested this, asserting the property was gifted to all siblings and their mother, and protested the 2nd defendant's commercial use of the property.
read moreJUDGMENT PROF. MENSA-BONSU JSC: This is an appeal from judgment of Court of Appeal dated 10th June 2020 which set aside orders made by the High Court in Koforidua. Facts and background This case has arisen because a man who gifted landed property to his wife and children by her, purported to gift that property again to one of the children a decade later. The new donee (1st defendant) then registered the property in his name only, raised a loan by way of mortgage on it, and purported to settle it on his ex-wife as part of a divorce settlement. The other siblings have mounted a protest, contending that their late father, Opanyin Kwaku Okyere, customarily gifted the subject-matter of dispute to his children (the plaintiffs and 1st defendant) and their mother. This, the father did on 26th January 1975, at a large meeting called for the purpose. The plaintiffs have since been in possession of the property. In consequence of the plaintiffs and defendants switching roles in the 1st and...