LAW 101

Ten years ago, Samuel and Beatrice Abbey a couple in love bought 5 acre of land worth 10 million naira to build their home, they both contribute equally to the purchase of the land. In order to cut costs they decided not to engage a lawyer before signing the deed of Assignment.

Ten years later, the couple are facing major challenges and decided to opt for a divorce. The wife Beatrice Abbey told her lawyer about her claim to the property now worth 200 million naria that they bought jointly ten years ago. Now on getting to court the husband is claiming he is the sole owner of the property, he disputed the fact that this ex wife contributed anything to the house and infact the propety was bought by him alone. The wife obviously confused as to why because she was present throughout the process of purchase and even signed the Deed, the lawyer checked the Deed of Assignment and realized that the party that bought the land was Mr and Mrs Samuel Abbey, a classic rookie mistake. The husband is arguing that only his name is on the document as Mrs is just a social title, her name was not included.

Yes, he is right and has a strong ground to take sole possession of the property, when a couple or two people signs a document as Mr and Mrs Samuel Abbey , only Samuel Abbey whose name reflects in the document is the owner. The appropriate way should have been; Mr Samuel Abbey and Mrs Beatrice Abbey. The law does not regard Mr or Mrs as an identity, state your full name.