Can a man owns a family property? No. This is the position of a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.
Any property (ies) own during the pendency of a marriage has (have) been seamed to be jointly own by the couple.
At best, the husband is holding the property in “constructive trust,” for the family.
Justice Dorcas Olatokun said: “indirect contributions of a wife to the marital property should not be quantified in monetary terms in order to entitle her to a share of the property”.
“Constructive Trust “, the court said quoting the English Master of Rolls, Lord Denning, ” is a trust imposed by law wherever justice and good conscience require, a remedy by which the court can enable an aggrieved spouse or party to obtain restitution and the success of the party’s case does not depend on his or her direct physical or monetary contribution to the building or acquisition of the property”.
The court made the pronouncement in a case between a couple, Mr Pius Aina, and his wife, Caroline over a property at Festac Town, Lagos, acquired by the husband while he worked with the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) in early 1980s. The couple who had been married for 35 years live in the property with their three children for more than 30 years.
After his retirement, the husband in 2018 sold the property for N20 million and relocated back to his hometown in Ondo State.
His wife however challenged the sale, claiming that as his wife, and joint owner, the husband cannot sell the property without her consent. She therefore sued her husband before the Lagos high court asking the court to. void the sales. Joined as defendants in the suit are her husband, Mr Pius Aina, Michael Oluwaseun Da-Silva, Albert Sanyaolu Da-Silva, Joe Vincent, and Femi Adeniyi. The second and third defendants are the purported buyer of the property, and his father who manages it respectively. The two other defendants are the agents that facilitated the sales.
