Did you know that the type of marriage you contract during your lifetime determines how your properties will be shared if you die without making a will? Although this may sound strange, that is the law.
If during your lifetime, you contracted a statutory marriage or Marriage under the Act (marriage celebrated by the provisions of the Marriage Act) and you later die without making a will, your properties will be shared according to the relevant provisions of the Administration of the Estate of the deceased laws of the relevant state, to the exclusion of the customary laws.
The above principle of law was aptly demonstrated in the case of Obusez vs. Obusez.
In that case, one Cornelius Paul Obusez got married to his wife under the Marriage Act on the 8th of July, 1972. Mr. Obusez was from Ute Ukpo near Agbor in Delta State. There are five children in the marriage. The first child was born on 30/8/73 while the last was born on 6/6/82.
On 29/5/88, Mr. Cornelius Obusez was assassinated and he died without making a will while residing at No. 17 Obokun Street, Ilupeju, Lagos State. The relationship between the deceased and the wife as a couple was not smooth until his death on 29/5/88. The wife was charged along with other persons for the murder of her husband. She was discharged.
Mr. Obusez was survived by his wife, his five children, his twin brother, and his other brother, who are his full brothers. The deceased was buried in the personal residence of the twin brother. In his lifetime, the deceased took out a life insurance policy in 1977 where he named his first and second children and his twin brother as beneficiaries.
At the High Court of Lagos State, Ikeja, the wife and one of his friends instituted an action against his two brothers, claiming a declaration that the wife and her five children were the only persons entitled to the estate of late Cornelius Paul Obusez and an order that the grant of letters of administration in solemn form for the administration of the estate be issued to the wife and his friend who is not a member of his family.
The brothers, in response, filed a defense and counter-claim in which they claimed a declaration that they were the only persons entitled to administer the estate of the late Cornelius Paul Obusez and an order that the grant of letters of administration be issued to them by their native laws and customs.
After the trial, the trial court held that under Nigeria’s law of succession to the estate of Nigerians who contract marriages under the Marriage Act, the wife and her children were the only persons entitled to the estate of the deceased and that as beneficiaries of the estate, they were entitled to a grant of letters of administration to administer the estate. The court further held that it was proper and lawful that the friend be appointed a co-administrator with the wife as all the children were minors. Consequently, the court granted the wife’s claim and dismissed the brothers’ counter-claim.
The brothers of the deceased were aggrieved by the decision and they appealed the decision to the Supreme Court but they were not successful.
The above decision of the Supreme Court clearly illustrated the fact that the type of marriage you celebrated is what determines how your estate will be administered if you die without making a will.
LESSONS FROM THE ABOVE DECISION:
1. Making somebody a beneficiary or next-of-kin to a bank account or insurance policy as was the case in the case under review will not make the person a beneficiary of the policy or proceeds of the bank account if you contracted a statutory marriage and died without making a will. In this circumstance, it is only the provisions of the Administration of the Estate of the deceased law that will determine who will be the actual beneficiary of your estate, not otherwise. In the instant case, the deceased named his twin brother as a beneficiary of his insurance policy, but that could not materialize because he died without making a will and under the Administration of the Estate of the Deceased law of Lagos State his twin brother does not qualify as beneficial to his estate.
2. If you die without making a will your enemy or a person you do not wish to benefit from your estate might end up being the major beneficiary of your estate as was the case in the instant case. Mr. Obusez did not want his wife to benefit from his insurance policy, hence he did not name her as a beneficiary, but she ended up being a major beneficiary of the estate of her late husband who died without making a will.
Friends, the importance of making a will cannot be over-emphasized. It is important to make investments but more important to plan what happens to your investment after your demise.
What is your take on the above? Kindly share your thoughts with us.
Authority:
Obusez vs. Obusez (2017) 10 NWLR (part 1043) SC
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