Analysis
The claimant and the defendant both claimed to be the surviving spouse of the deceased, who died intestate, and each sought letters of administration of his estate. The claimant denied the defendant had ever married the deceased, and the defendant relied upon a purported certified copy of a Nigerian marriage certificate from 1962, and her own recollection of the ceremony, as evidence of the marriage. The defendant admitted the claimant had married the deceased in Nigeria in 1993, but asserted that they had divorced in 2000 and relied upon a purported order of the Chief Registrar of the Lagos Judicial Division, which the claimant alleged was a forgery. There was substantial witness evidence that the claimant and the deceased had cohabited as man and wife from 2006 until his death in 2017. No evidence of Nigerian law was adduced, nor any evidence from any Nigerian lawyer confirming the validity of the Nigerian documents.
The issues to be determined were:
- (1) Had the defendant proved the claimant’s divorce from the deceased in 2000?
- (2) If not, was there a good reason not to make an order for letters of administration to be granted in accordance with ordinary principles?
Held:
- (1) The claimant was the sole widow of the deceased. Without any evidence from Nigerian lawyers confirming the authenticity of the documents relied upon, the defendant had failed to prove both her marriage to the deceased in 1962 and the claimant’s supposed divorce from him in 2000. It was not asserted that the claimant’s marriage to the deceased was bigamous or otherwise invalid under Nigerian law. The evidence showed that the claimant was cohabiting with the deceased from 2006 until his death; together with the admission of her marriage, that gave rise to a presumption that they were married: Akhter v Khan [2018] followed.
- (2) Letters of administration would be granted to the claimant. Although the court’s discretion in deciding to whom a grant of representation should be made was very wide, and it was possible to order joint representation to two surviving spouses – Official Solicitor to the Senior Courts v Yemoh [2010] followed – it was more appropriate to order a grant in favour of the claimant. Even had the defendant been recognised as a spouse, it would have been both just and expedient to exercise the court’s broad discretion to make an order in favour of the claimant under s116, Senior Courts Act 1981: Gudavadze v Kay [2012] applied.
Order for a grant of representation to the claimant.
JUDGMENT CHARLES MORRISON (sitting as a deputy judge of the High Court): Introduction [1] The proceedings commenced in this court in February 2021 by Mrs Patricia Lambo, as I will in this judgment refer to her, came before me for trial on 5 October. The hearing continued into the next day. The substance of the …Continue reading "Kelly-Lambo v Lambo [2023] WTLR 255"