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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
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| Title: | Human rights and the widow's material security: the case of the 'intestate' Ghanaian widow |
| Author: | Dzidzornu, David M. |
| Year: | 1995 |
| Periodical: | Verfassung und Recht in Übersee |
| Volume: | 28 |
| Issue: | 4 |
| Pages: | 489-521 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Ghana |
| Subjects: | customary law family law marriage law women |
| Abstract: | In Ghana, marriage can be contracted under custom, or under statute based on the English common law. However, since every Ghanaian belongs to a customary law system in which the rules of inheritance favour the wider family above the spouse, especially the widow, even where a statutory marriage is dissolved by the death of one spouse, the statutory rules governing succession to marital property in the absence of a will are, in practice, invariably undermined by the deference given to the applicability of the personal (customary) law of the deceased. The prevalence of this phenomenon works in particular to the disadvantage of the widow. The present article examines the legislative efforts made to reduce these negative effects, notably the Wills Act 1971, a constitutional provision originating in 1979 which requires that 'no spouse may be derived of a reasonable provision out of the estate of a spouse whether the estate be testate or intestate', the Intestate Succession Law 1985, the Intestate Succession (Amendment) Law 1991, and the Customary Marriage and Divorce Registration (Amendment) Law 1991. It concludes that the Ghanaian State has failed to make noticeable headway in this area since 1985. Notes, ref., sum. (p. 419). |
