Lawyer Mary Ohenewaa Afful has counselled the general public to write their will to avoid conflicts over distribution of properties.
In her view, most people fail to consider a will [out of ignorance] until they are dying.
She therefore explained that writing a will does not mean a person is dying and people should not wait until they are in a critical condition to write their will.
According to her, the law court would resort to the use of Interstate Succession Law to split properties when a spouse fails to write their will before their death.
Speaking on Angel FM’s Anopa Bofo Morning Show on Wednesday, May 4, Lawer May Ohenewaa Afful said that “whether you make a will or not is a personal decision. [But] you don’t need to prepare a will because you are going to die and it’s rather unfortunate that many people wait until they are going to die before considering a will.”
She advocated that Ghanaians should practise writing a will as frequently as possible since wills are subject to change per the author’s discretion.
She however, suggested that the advise and guidance of lawyers should be sought in preparing a will due to the legal aspect involved.
The lawyer noted that filing a will is usually done at the High Court and is not an expensive venture aside the professional charges that may be incurred in consulting a lawyer.
Despite the professional charges, Madam Afful indicated that a will saves the deceased person’s family the stress of going for litigation and it is a far better option compared to any court procedures in sharing properties among relatives.
Lawyer Ohenewaa Afful also stated that there are new ways in which people buy properties in their children’s name or hold such properties in trust until the children are of age and the properties are transferred to them to avoid litigation cases that sometimes last for 10 to 20 years.
