Separated but not divorced—Court declares first wife administratrix of husband’s estate, orders second wife to vacate Dansoman house

The High Court (Justice and Probate Division) has declared Emma Botchwey Indomie, first wife of the late John Benedict Indomie, as the valid administratrix of his estate.

Presided over by Her Ladyship Eudora Christiana Dadson (Mrs.), the court consequently ordered the late Doris Larbi, the second wife, and her estate to vacate House Number A386/20 at Dansoman within 30 days.

Background

Following the death of the testator, his appointed executor renounced probate. As a result, Emma Botchwey, his first wife, applied for Letters of Administration with Will annexed, which was duly granted by the court.

Subsequently, she and her son initiated the present suit, seeking, among other reliefs, a declaration that the second wife was not entitled to reside in their Dansoman property.

A central issue for determination by the court was which of the two women was the legally recognized wife of the deceased at the time of his death.

Case of the Second Wife

According to Doris Larbi, she had married the late John Benedict before Emma re-entered his life. Doris claimed that Emma was merely a former lover who had left the deceased, had a child with him, and subsequently married another man.

She further alleged that the monogamous marriage Emma claimed to have contracted with the deceased occurred much later in London, where Emma and her children allegedly coerced her ailing husband into marrying her.

Doris asserted that her customary marriage to the deceased took place in 2007 and that he had promised to upgrade it to a monogamous union after returning from the London trip.

Case of the First Wife

Emma Botchwey, on the other hand, maintained that she legally married the deceased in a monogamous marriage in 2003, making her the only wife recognized under the law.

She contended that Doris only became involved with her husband during his period of illness, eventually bearing a child with him but without the benefit of a valid marriage.

Emma insisted that she was properly granted audience and authority by the court as the lawful administratrix of her late husband’s estate.

Cross-Examination Revelations

During cross-examination, it was confirmed that Emma and John Benedict married in 2003 in a monogamous ceremony and had later separated but never divorced.

It also emerged that Doris’s customary marriage to the deceased was entered into in 2007, well after the monogamous marriage between Emma and John.

Judgment of the Court

On these facts, the court declared the customary marriage between Doris Larbi and the deceased as null and void, stating it had been contracted at a time when a valid monogamous marriage still subsisted between the deceased and Emma Botchwey.

"I declare that there is a valid monogamous marriage between the 1st Plaintiff and the late John Benedict Indomie.
I declare that the 2007 customary marriage between the late John Benedict Indomie and the late 1st Defendant is void ab initio, as that was later in time to the 1st Plaintiff’s monogamous marriage," the court held in part.

Accordingly, the court upheld Emma Botchwey’s status as the lawful administratrix of the deceased’s estate and ordered Doris Larbi’s estate to vacate the Dansoman house within 30 days.

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