Court rules divorcee’s entitled to late husband’s property

The Central Court 1 in Jos, Plateau State, has ruled that a woman whose husband divorced her before he died was entitled to his property.

The woman was married as a second wife to Malam Kabir (late) but he did not inform his first wife about the marriage and the later divorce, a development that generated a disagreement between the first wife and members of the late Malam Kabir’s family.

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While confirming the marriage of the second wife to the court, the complainant and mother of the deceased, Hajiya Jummai Isa, told the court that her son indeed had a second marriage.

She further told the court that though her son divorced the second wife, he died before the completion of her idda (waiting period).

While ruling on the matter, the Judge, Ghazali Adam, said based on the submission of Shari’a, the woman was entitled to the property of the deceased because she was within her waiting period when the husband died.

Earlier, the complainant approached the court following a disagreement between the family of the deceased and his first wife (defendant) on the former’s decision to sell some of his property to settle his debts, a decision that the first wife opposed.