Sealing of probate and Letters of administration obtained from countries outside Ghana

A human’s life is characterized by the acquisition of several properties which are material in nature and thus are left behind in the unlikely event of death. The death of a person who leaves property behind comes with its own issues. One of such is the need to ensure that the personal representatives of the deceased are clothed with the power to administer the estate of the deceased in favor of the named or intended beneficiaries. 

The grant of probate or letters of administration is very necessary in order for a personal representative to commence the distribution of the Estate. There are instances where a deceased person acquired properties in Ghana as well as in other countries of the world. As a result, it is common that named executors of that deceased person’s Will or in the case of one who died intestate, the administrators, would after applying for and being granted probate or letters of administration in the foreign country take steps to have the grant re-sealed in Ghana.

This Article seeks to give the legal rules, practice and procedures governing the effect and enforceability, in Ghana, of the grant of probate or letters of administration made by foreign courts.

This Article would employ a prescriptive and descriptive approach to assess the process in Ghana by which a grant of probate or letters of administration obtained outside Ghana is re-sealed in Ghana. Thereafter, the Article would make some recommendations that would ensure that certainty is brought to the process of re-sealing in Ghana and would make the process simpler and straightforward.

Read the article in full below.