Law, Culture and Women's Inheritance Rights in ... - Leitner Center

elations that often exist among widows and sets of children who inherit property as tenants-incommon
under Law 111.
Beatrice Avorkliyah is a forty-five year-old widow from Ho who was married under
customary law. [FN214] She and her husband had three children who are now nineteen,
seventeen, and nine. During the marriage, the couple and their children lived at Ms. Avorkliyah's
father's house. In addition, seven adult children from her husband's previous marriage lived with
them until her husband's death. Ms. Avorkliyah maintained the household while her husband
worked for the Ghana Civil Service.
Ms. Avorkliyah reported that, when her husband became very sick, the children from the
previous marriage turned against her, “ganging up” on her and engaging in insulting behavior.
They were unhappy when she sent him to the hospital and drove *299 her from the hospital with
their abusive behavior. They then moved their father to another hospital and failed to inform Ms.
Avorkliyah even when her husband died.
After her husband died, his union sent her 2,000,000 cedis. Although she spent 500,000 cedis
to finance the funeral, at the funeral service, the children from the earlier marriage assaulted her
children, and her husband's family insulted her. She was advised not to attend the burial. Led by
the eldest, the seven children from the previous marriage seized the remaining 1,500,000 cedis
along with chattels from the house, in violation of Law 111. The eldest son then proceeded to file
for letters of administration without her. Ms. Avorkliyah sought help from WiLDAF in Ho, and
WiLDAF filed a caveat in the Circuit Court to prevent the grant of letters of administration. The
case is still pending. [FN215]
Patience Lassey is a forty-six year-old widow, also from Ho, who is employed as a petty
trader. [FN216] In addition to their two children, now eighteen and sixteen, her husband had
eight children from a previous marriage. All eight of these children were adults when Ms. Lassey
and her husband married.
Her husband owned two houses. During their marriage, he and Ms. Lassey lived in one and
rented the other for 200,000 cedis a month. According to Ms. Lassey, immediately after her
husband died, the children from her husband's first marriage began harassing her. They began
collecting the rent from the second house, giving her only 60,000 cedis out of the 200,000
collected. They seized all of the funeral donations and tried to take the household chattels as
well. Ms. Lassey's case is complicated by the fact that her husband had drafted a will in 1983.
According to Ms. Lassey, the will was “not in her favor,” having been written when Ghana's
currency was significantly stronger and before the birth of her second child. Although the will
had been subsequently withdrawn by her husband, the eldest child from the first marriage has
tried to enforce this will by redepositing it, beginning a legal battle which has resulted in Ms.
Lassey filing a caveat to block the will. The distribution of her husband's*300 estate had not yet
taken place when we met with Ms. Lassey.
While in Ho, the Crowley team also met with Bernice Segbawu, a forty-five year-old widow
employed as a petty trader. [FN217] Ms. Segbawu was originally from Anloga but had lived in
Kumasi and later in Ho during her marriage. Married under customary law, she was her
husband's fourth wife, though she did not believe her marriage to be polygynous. Two of her
husband's wives had died, and she believed her husband had divorced the third wife before she
married him twenty-two years ago. Ms. Segbawu had two children with her husband, now ages
twenty-one and eighteen. He had eight other children.
Last year, Ms Segbawu lent her husband 100,000 cedis from her own income for travel
expenses so he could visit his village in order to distribute the estate of his father who had