CHRAJ cautions against arbitrary sharing of deceased’s properties

 The Commission on Hu­man Rights and Admin­istrative Justice (CHRAJ) has warned family heads against distribution of property of the deceased without recourse to the law.

“Without the acquisition of a Letters of Administration from a competent court of jurisdiction, any attempt by family heads or sib­lings of the deceased to share the property amounts to an illegality,” Mr John Ato Breboh, Senior Prin­cipal Investigator, Tema Regional Office of CHRAJ, said.

Mr Breboh issued the warning at the Ghana News Agency, Tema Industrial News Hub Boardroom Dialogue platform, on the “Inter­state Succession Law.”

He reminded the public that the PNDC Law 111, which is pres­ently being reviewed, established a method to distribute the estate of the deceased.

Mr Breboh said that the law gives a larger percentage of the holdings of the deceased to the spouse and children.

He said the remaining four portions, should be shared among parents of the deceased and extended family.

Mr Breboh added that if the de­ceased is only survived by a spouse without children, he or she was en­titled to half of the property, with the remaining half divided equally among the family and parents.

“If a person dies without children and a spouse, the parents and family will take half of his or her property; if they die without a family, spouse, parents, or children, everything goes to the state,” he explained.

Mr Breboh urged persons whose spouses died without a will, to apply for the Interstate Succes­sion Law and seek remedy through the legal system.

He noted that though the law has been in effect since 1985, some spouses, particularly women, were being evicted from their homes by family members.

According to Mr Breboh, the taking over of properties belong­ing to the deceased to the detri­ment of a spouse and children is illegal and punishable by law. —GNA