In Ghana there have been a series of laws to regulate the devolution of a deceased person's estate where he or she died intestate. One of such laws is the Law of Intestate Succession, also known as Intestate Succession law, 1985. The law applies to all and sundry regardless of sex. However, in the Patriarchal societies that we have in Ghana and other parts of Africa, where men still control wealth and opportunities, the effect of the law is to protect the widow and the orphan.
The Intestate Succession Law 1985: PNDCL 111, state that:
a) "where the estate includes more than one house, the surviving spouse or child or both of them, shall be entitled to that house"
b) "where the estate includes more than one house, the surviving spouse or child or both of them shall determine which house of those houses shall devolve to such spouse or child" (the rest of the Law shall be discussed later in this text)
What are its implication to property devolution? Due to the discrepancies in the distribution and devolution of a deceased wealth or properties that ultimately resulted in several family squabbles and conflicts that consequently retard developmental processes in the family an created divisions and disintegration of family ties and destroys the bond of loyalty, the institutionalization of the PNDC law 111, was geared towards bridging this gap, thereby creating peace and tranquility when it comes to the devolution of properties upon the death of a spouse.
The PNDC Law 111, to some larger extend resolved amicably these situations of bureaucratic processes of sharing properties and the propensities of family members exerting influence on the estate left by the deceased. The coming into being of the PNDC Law 111 made it possible for each member of the family get a deserving portion of the deceased estate (s) . This is because from the traditional perspective, the role played by the deceased parents could not be over emphasized and needs to be compensated.
On the contrary, the successes chalked by the diseased believed tohave been through the complementary efforts of the surviving spouse and this is where the law comes in to settle the disputes that may crop up and result in breaking the family ties, therefore each person as earlier on stated gets a portion that commensurate with his or her status ranging from the parents of the deceased family to the spouse and children.
In the devolution or distribution of the deceased wealth, the following allocations are made by the PNDC Law 111:
a) 3/16 of the estate goes to the surviving spouse.
b) 9/16 of the estate goes to the children of the deceased.
c) 1/8 goes to the parents of the deceased
d) 1/8 goes to family and it is distributed in accordance with the tradition or custom of the people.