AMMA OWUSU SARPONG vs KOJO OWUSU SARPONG [2022]DLCA16050

Date	2022-11-15
Suit No.	CIVIL APPEA NO: H1/15/2022
Citation No.	[2022]DLCA16050

SOWAH J. A. (PRESIDING)

OPPONG J. A.

MENSAH-HOMIAH J. A.

MR. SULEMAN MUSAH ESQ.

MR. JOSEPH AWAKPASA ESQ.

[2022]DLCA16050
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >AMMA OWUSU SARPONG<o:p></o:p>(PETITIONER / RESPONDENT)<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>KOJO
OWUSU SARPONG<o:p></o:p>(RESPONDENT/APPELLANT)<o:p></o:p>[COURT OF APPEAL, KOFORIDUA]<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;<div style="border-top: none; border-right: none; border-left: none; border-image: initial; border-bottom-width: 1.5pt; border-bottom-color: windowtext; padding: 0cm 0cm 1pt;">

CIVIL APPEA NO: H1/15/2022
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;DATE: 15TH NOVEMBER 2022<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM<o:p></o:p>SOWAH
J. A. (PRESIDING), OPPONG J. A., MENSAH-HOMIAH J. A.<o:p></o:p><div style="border-top-width: 1.5pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-left: none; border-bottom-width: 1.5pt; border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-right: none; padding: 1pt 0cm;">

<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
text-align:center;border:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;padding:0cm;mso-padding-alt:1.0pt 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">JUDGEMENT<o:p></o:p>

</div>MENSAH-HOMIAH,
JA:<o:p></o:p>INTRODUCTION<o:p></o:p>This judgment is rendered in respect of an appeal filed by the
Respondent/ Appellant herein against the decision of the High Court, Koforidua,
dated 13th December 2019, in favour of the Petitioner/Respondent. The
fundamental issue raised by this appeal revolves around the partitioning of
marital or spousal property upon dissolution of marriage, bearing in mind the
“Jurisprudence of Equality”. &nbsp;In the
course of this judgment, we would comment on this question in the light of the
plethora of judicial pronouncements on the subject matter.<o:p></o:p>The designations of the parties at the court below would be
maintained.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;BRIEF FACTS OF THE CASE<o:p></o:p>The parties married under the ordinance on 14th
February, 2005 in Koforidua and the Respondent later assisted the Petitioner to
join him in the United Kingdom (UK), where the couple lived together. At the
time of the marriage, the Respondent had solely acquired a plot of land in
Kasoa, Ghana, and had constructed a building thereon up to the window level. Prior
to relocating to the UK, Petitioner supervised the construction of this
building, and thereafter, her sister continued with the supervision. &nbsp;Whilst in the UK, the Petitioner took care of
the home and further made funds available to the Respondent to continue with aspects
of the construction of the Kasoa house. Respondent also took loans from his
bankers which he applied to the construction of the building. One of the loans had
not been paid off. Then, the happy marriage contracted on a valentine’s day
turned sour.<o:p></o:p>On 16th October 2018, the Petitioner commenced divorce
proceedings against her husband, the Respondent, seeking orders for the
dissolution of the ordinance marriage between the parties, equitable sharing of
“the Kasoa house”, at Titibu Junction and compensation for years of service. In
his answer to the Petition, the Respondent agreed to a dissolution of the
marriage since the parties are not compactible.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;THE HIGH COURT DECISION<o:p></o:p>Having found that the marriage between the parties had broken down
beyond reconciliation, the Learned High Court Judge in her Judgment delivered
on 13th December, 2019, dissolved the ordinance marriage and dealt
with the ancillary issues.<o:p></o:p>The Court below found as a fact that although the Petitioner may not
have contributed to the acquisition of the land on which the house in issue was
built, “all her actions after the marriage, her supervision of the property,
her contribution in the course of the marriage to the marriage itself, her
sister’s supervision in her absence, lends the property the colour of a
matrimonial property.” <o:p></o:p>The court further found that the Petitioner contributed to the
building of the house with the aim of becoming a joint owner and this belief
must be materialized with the aid of the court of equity. An instance </main>