While At It, Have Sense!!

So, today I read the story of a woman who bought a house in her husband's name. Husband died, and willed the same house to his child born of another woman. You see, this union called marriage is a beautiful thing. The ugly part of marriage comes when you lose yourself in the process.

I am not against love, in fact i love LOVE. Who doesn't really? Do not forget that life is a journey and on a journey one  can not and should not lose focus. I have heard so many stories that have kept me dazed for minutes. With the permission of people involved will state a few:

A woman gave her husband money to buy a piece of land for the family,the man ended up buying the land in his mother's name. His excuse was they are young and the ''omo -onile" will cheat them. Pray tell, how does age affect buying any property? 

I also heard of the woman whose husband had a life insurance. Husband died and while mummy was still mourning and wearing sack clothes the husband's other wife that she is not even aware exists already took her own certificate to the claim the life insurance and that is simply because the full names were not spelt on the cover. Any woman can be a Mrs Somebody.

I also heard of the woman who had a fantastic paying job, was contributing money with husband to be to build a house. After all they were going to get married, things did not work out. This man had the guts to tell the woman to point to the parts where her money was  used in the building and he will break it and give her back the blocks and cement. But of course when the police got involved and she was asked to produce documents showing proof of co ownership, there was nothing to show. 

I have used these few cases to buttress how things can easily  go south in a marriage regardless of the LOVELY intention and atimes lack of intent of either spouse ( yes there are stories of men who have equally MISS-INVESTED in a seeming till death do us part arrangement). For the purpose of the story of the woman i read however and several others who reached out to me on this issue, it becomes pertinent to chronologically examine and understand that a marriage or civil union comes with legal rights and obligations particularly as it relates to death, co- investment,Wills and so much more.

I have also heard the Opinion that marriage under the Act regards the couple as ONE entity and as such equal rights is vested in a marriage however, a brief research easily showed that this noble assertion beautifully crafted under Common law, is usually impracticable in Nigeria owing to our cultural , moral , religious and traditional beliefs. 

The golden question to ask then is how does a woman protect herself in a marriage in Nigeria? I almost wanted to type the APPLICATION OF COMMON SENSE but permit me instead to  highlight some of the provisions of the Marriage Act under Nigerian Law  as it relates to Inheritance and Rights of Women in Nigeria:

The civil law, as enshrined in the Matrimonial Causes Act and Marriage Act, permit monogamous marriages and women married under these Acts shall enjoy the following legal rights:

- In the event of the death of her husband intestate, a certain percentage − at least one-third of the deceased’s estate − is left to the woman;
- The Acts recognise the equal right of each party to the custody of children;
- The wife and husband of a monogamous marriage cannot be found guilty of conspiracy except if a third party becomes a co-conspirator;
- A wife cannot be compelled to testify in a law court against her husband under the sections of the Evidence Act dealing with competence and compellability and vice versa;
- The immunity of non-disclosure of facts remains binding on the spouses even after divorce;
- The wife can sue the husband for her personal property, either before or after marriage (11).

Women, it pays to know your rights. Take for instance where  your husband dies without a will (intestate), the law says you are entitled to a third of his estate. Let's assume the entire Estate or 80 per cent of it  was achieved by  your sweat and blood for the love you had for your boo and family? He dies with no will and the law allows you only a third? Hmmmmm and what then happens  where there are more than one Mrs (Your Surname)?

Dear sisters, if you are going to get join properties let the names be stated correctly . Mr Abdul Frank and Mrs Corrine Bimbola Frank. Not Mr and Mrs Abdul Frank. Did you notice that I used a middle name for the wife? We have heard of situations where women bear same first names. SPELL YOUR NAMES CORRECTLY.

The purpose of this write up is to better understand our rights and how to go about protecting them in a marriage. Let's reason together, I welcome your feedback. 

By the way, there is a simple way out of all this imbroglio and to avoid stories that touch in  marriage for a couple. I bet you wanna know.. (wink)

Love and Light......💖💖