Appraisal of the Concept of Matrimonial Property under Nigerian Law

Abstract

Family and matrimonial contracts are often oral, unwritten and made without fear of breach. Consequently, spouses contribute both financially and non-financial towards the success of the marriage and acquisition of their matrimonial home. Often, the shared intentions of the spouses is usually to create a comfortable home for the family and each make indirect, invisible and unquantifiable sacrifices towards the success of the marriage. The State High Court is conferred with unlimited discretion in respect of matrimonial property and in exercising this discretion it often insists that a party must show evidence of substantial and direct financial contributions to the acquisition of matrimonial property before joint ownership of matrimonial property is inferred. Basically the library based research, is adopted in this article both the primary and secondary sources of law are cited. The findings of this article are: (1) Where there is a document of title in favour of one party to the marriage, that property is lost as a matrimonial property.(2) Where a party is insisting that the property in issue is jointly owned, that party is responsible for producing evidence to the effect that both parties contributed adequately to the acquisition of the said property, whether financially or otherwise.(3) Oral evidence, even, about the parties’ private arrangements cannot be allowed to contradict the content of document of title. This article recommends for a statutory definition of matrimonial property that will ingrain the socio-cultural norms and values regarding marital relations as a communal and partnership arrangement.