Inheritance Sharing
Inheritance Sharing: Customary Laws Fuelling Disharmony in Nigerian Families
Experts say obnoxious and discriminatory ethnic or cultural practices, which are legalised by Customary Laws in various parts of Nigeria and used in the sharing of family Inheritance, are a major cause of disharmony in the Nigerian family setting.
CHIEF Akin Agbabiaka (pseudonym) died at the age of 65. He was survived by nine wives and 36 children. He left behind an estate comprising eight fully developed properties and shares in numerous publicly quoted companies. He also left a will. But 30 years after his death, his family is yet to benefit from the assets. Rather, they are still before a Lagos State high court in Ikeja where they are locked in a tussle over how the inheritance would be shared.
Justice ModupeOnyeabo of the family Division of the Lagos State high court, who is handling the case, said the siblings are at daggers drawn and some of them are no longer on talking terms.