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31 Dec

FAMILY LAW 2.1 ANCILLARY RELIEFS (1) GENERAL INTRODUCTION

ANCILLARY RELIEFS.

 

Kindly read through this Jide amateur example/excerpt: Jide, the Managing Director of Owo Oil Company went to inspect the company’s exploration site at Delta. While in Delta, he fell in love with Titi who sells Akara and Bread at the site. One day, while inspecting the Site, he calls Titi and buys all her “market” (20loaves and 50 pieces of Akara). The next day he decides to show off and buys a Golf car and a new shop for Titi. But Titi is hard to get. She tells Jide that she does not accept gifts from strangers. But Jide is bent on marrying her. The next day, Jide gifted her a Rangerover vogue. This time, she considers his offer. Cut the long story short; they get married in the High Court some weeks later. Jide then purchases a #50,000,000 Duplex where they both reside as their matrimonial home. Their marriage begot Johnny and July. Subsequently, Owo Oil Company became international and Jide was seldom in Nigeria. After one month of loneliness, Titi succumbs to pressure and sleeps with Janto the gateman who did not even need to impress her. She gives birth to John whom Jide thinks is his Son.

7 years later, Jide suspects that John doesn’t resemble him physically or in character. A DNA is conducted and it reveals that John not Jide’s son.

Jide does not believe Titi could betray his trust after all he has done for her. He now abhors Titi and files for divorce.

Now we proceed to the main topic: “Ancillary Reliefs”

Introduction.

“Ancillary” connotes “supplementary”… something that supports the central object. In divorce proceedings, the courts usually grant supplementary reliefs to make the divorce order practical and sensible. Such reliefs are called “ancillary reliefs”. Some of which include:

  1. Settlement of property.
  2. Division of property.

Part IV of the Matrimonial Causes Act provides for the reliefs. Note however that Part IV shall ONLY APPLY to: (1.) Parties to a statutory marriage and (2.) Children of the (statutory) marriage. A statutory marriage has been defined by lord Penzance in Hyde V Hyde as a voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others during the continuance of the marriage.

Parties to a Statutory Marriage: Within the meaning of Section 69 Matrimonial Causes Act include a husband and wife of a statutory marriage (whether void or voidable). At common law, only the wife was considered/entitled to ancillary reliefs but that is not the case at present.

:: Parties to a customary or Islamic law marriage are not entitled to the ancillary reliefs under Part IV: Aneke V Aneke.

Children of the marriage:

Section 69 defines “children of the marriage” to include;

  1. Any child adopted since the marriage by the husband and the wife or by either of them with the consent of the other.
  2. Any child of both spouses born before the marriage whether legitimated or not.
  3. Any child (illegitimate or adopted) of either parties if at the relevant time was ordinarily a member of the household of the husband and wife: The Act defined “relevant time”; the time immediately preceding the time when the husband and wife ceased to live together. Or if they have ceased to live together more than once, the time immediately preceding the time when they last ceased to live together before the institution of the proceedings. OR If they were living together when the proceeding was instituted, the time immediately preceding the institution of the proceedings. In May V May, the court noted: “member of a household” does NOT mean physical presence or residence… the child must be treated as a member of the household. The phrase; “immediately” means that no substantial time should have lapsed. It is a question of fact and circumstances. In Asomugha V Asomugha, the wife had two daughters before she married the man. The man treated them as his daughters and even represented them to be such to his employer for official records. The court held that the girls were children of the marriage. In Osemabor V Osemabor. The court held that since the children were treated as an integral part of the family, they are children of the marriage. In Cunningham V Cunningham, the children of the wife’s former marriage were being taken care of by the wife’s parents (i.e. the children’s maternal grandmother). The court held that they were not children of the marriage.

Note however that a child (of the parties) that has been adopted by a third party cannot be regarded as a child of the marriage-Section 69(c)

Isochukwu

Quite eccentric really

Comment (2)
emanamfon
22/12/2022

Thank you so much for this note on ancillary relief. It was simplified enough.

Reply
Isochukwu
30/07/2023

Thank you for the kind consideration.
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(https://g.page/r/CahsE0qXzcJrEAI/review)
Thank you.

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