The joy of concubines(Baby mamas and side chics) appears to have been dashed following revelations that they stand no chance of benefiting from the property of a deceased male lover.
According to the Chairman of the Executive Council of LAWA Ghana, Sheila Minkah-Premo, the new Intestate Succession Bill and the Property Rights of Spouses Bill that regulate inheritances do not make provisions for that category of persons because they are not considered spouses.
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“The big question of whether the mothers of children who were not married to the fathers can benefit, unfortunately, in this current draft, no provision is made for it.”
“These two laws based on Article 22 have gone side by side. The Intestate Succession Bill and the Property Rights of Spouses Bill. In an earlier version of the Property Rights of Spouses Bill, an attempt was made to make provision for cohabitees who have lived for five years, but that was strongly objected to. So the last draft of the Property Rights of Spouses Bill, that has been totally taken off. The idea is that, they said, if you look at Article 22, it talks about spouses, it doesn’t talk about anything else,” she said in an interview on Accra-based Joy News.
Appearing on its flagship program ‘The Law’ hosted by Samson Lardy Anyenini, the private legal practitioner said there was an attempt albeit unsuccessful to make provisions for persons who have cohabited with a deceased male lover for about 5 years in the Property Rights of Spouses Bill.
Children born out of such wedlocks are adequately catered for in the law and entitled to have a share of the deceased’s properties but their mothers, popularly known as ‘Baby mamas’ are not catered for.
“But in this case, the children will benefit. Remember, the definition of children is children, whether born within or outside a marriage. So the children will benefit.”
“But unfortunately, the ‘Baby mama’ and ‘side chicks’ will not benefit,” Sheila Minkah-Premo stressed.