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

assistance was only minimal, the property will be treated as the self-acquired property of the
deceased and distributed according to Law 111. [FN279]
Often if is quite difficult for a spouse to contest the nature *316 and scope of the family's
contribution to the disputed property. In most cases, few records exist. Moreover, because of the
highly gendered roles of spouses, the widow may have very little direct knowledge about the
acquisition of property or the conduct of her husband's business. [FN280] The contested property
may be located in a remote area, for example, and the wife may not have even seen the property.
She will therefore be unable to testify directly regarding the means of its acquisition. [FN281]
b. Property Acquired Through the Joint Efforts of the Married Couple
Ghanaian law makes no provision for joint ownership of property by individuals who are not
part of the same lineage, even when those individuals are legally married. [FN282] As described
above, husbands and wives retain any separate property they may own prior to the marriage and
own separately, as individuals, any property acquired during the marriage. [FN283] Thus, if a
woman contributes to the purchase of a house or household chattels, then some part of that
property should be regarded as her self-acquired property and should not be distributed as part of
the estate.
As a practical matter, however, women face great difficulty in establishing their ownership of
property. First, there is a strong presumption that the man owns all the property of the married
couple, and the woman must prove otherwise. [FN284] This can be very difficult because most
women lack records of their contribution or other proof of ownership. [FN285] For example,
when Mrs. Cecilia Ackah's husband died, his family seized everything in the house except for the
furniture. [FN286] Although the family *317 allowed her to keep the furniture for one year, they
warned her that, if anything was missing after the year, she would have to refund it. Mrs. Ackah
then sought help from the SNV/WiLDAF Legal Awareness Program in Takoradi to challenge the
family's action. She explained that, although she had contributed to the acquisition of the
property, the family treated everything as belonging to her husband. Although she had no records
of her contribution, WiLDAF encouraged her to make a list of the things she had helped to
purchase. She did so, but the family disputed the claim: “They wouldn't even listen to me.”
[FN287]
Of course, even without proof of her contribution, Mrs. Ackah is entitled to the household
chattels under Law 111. In order to establish ownership by inheritance, however, she must
complete the probate process, which can be costly and time-consuming. Indeed, with WiLDAF's
help, Mrs. Ackah applied for letters of administration, with the children and the customary
successor as co-applicants. [FN288] Yet for over a year, the family has refused to cooperate in
the administration of the estate and, in the meantime, has not returned the chattels. [FN289] Thus
the family has deprived her not only of her portion of the estate but of the use and enjoyment of
her own self-acquired property.
Although the problem of proving contribution is often more acute for women who lack basic
literacy, even women who have the knowledge and capacity to create a record of ownership may
choose to put property that they purchase in the name of the husband. [FN290] Mrs. Betty
Adunyame, Regional Coordinator of the National Council on Women and Development
(“NCWD”), suggested that this practice results from profound social pressure. She noted that
there is an old Akan saying that, “if a wife *318 buys a gun, it is a man who keeps it.” [FN291]
Ms. Adunyame explained that if a woman insists on putting property in her own name, she is