After divorce, former spouses can’t prevent the other from using their names – Justice Osei Tutu

Did you know that an ex-husband cannot prevent his former partner from using his last name even after the divorce process?

According to a High Court Judge, Justice Alexander Osei Tutu, by the tenets of the constitution, no one owns a name, and everyone is free to use any name they choose.

Speaking on JoyNews' The Law, he explained that this remains the case until there is a statutory law preventing others from using the name.

“Under the law, nobody has the right to a name so when the woman married she adopted the husband's name, and the marriage is dissolved. The man has no right to tell the woman to change to her previous name,” he told host Samson Lardy Anyenini on July 7.

He referred to a case in England where a woman who had divorced a royal continued to use the royal name even after the divorce. The prince at the time felt she was taking undue advantage of it and took the matter to court.

Justice Tutu said the court held that “Nobody has a right to a name. So even after divorce, my listeners should know that one person cannot ask the other to change his or her name,” he added.