Please I will like lawyers to advise me in this or those that have experienced this before.
My father died 19 years ago (1993). He had 2 wives. The 1st wife had 2 boys, died before he married again. The 2nd is my mother with 2 boys. Girls excluded.
Now the 1st son of the 1st wife wants us to share properties owned by my father outside our village.
We have 2 houses that are not equal in size and value. The bigger house, we the second live in it and my mother has been managing it for the past 19 i.e, all that comes out in it, we eat with it.
And the other smaller house, the others are giving its outcome on till we got admission into university and its outcomes used for our school fees. The house we live in is where my father lived, married my mother, all my mother’s children given birth and where my father died.
Them, them self have NOT been living with us. They are all married and they are all older then my mother and we, my mother children are still growing up. Only me the 1st son just got a job.

My step brother 30 years older then me, called us and said that the house where we live now is the one he wants.
We have pleaded with him to leave it for us. He insisted that, that is the one he wants.
We asked him then where will our mother stay then. He said we should move to the other house.
We asked again, so you want to send you father’s wife out of the house where you father married and lived with her.
He said is nothing new that is done everywhere. We ibos oo
The other house is smaller very old model of house and we find it difficult to move there or we can’t just live there. This man saying this has his own family and houses in some states of this Nigeria and has never lived with us since our birth. Infect he is 30 years older than me the 1st of my mother.
He has been insisting on this and has threatened to take us to court if we fail to sign the document for him when he gets it.
After a month
We called him on phone and shared it for him the way we can bare.
By asking him to take the smaller house plus the whole top of the other building or take the whole floor of the bigger building.
He refused and said properties are not shared that way.
Please, is this true?
Please all nairaland readers advise us on what to do or stand because my mother has invested so much on that building. That is where her business of sawing clothes and well water selling is. And leaving that house will be total close of her business.
This issue is giving us sleepless night.
Please lawyers, tell me
Is it done anywhere, where the step son sends his father’s wedded wife off the house where she and the late husband lived and she managed for 19 years.

What should we do please?

Firstly, did your father die living behind a will?

Also, did your father marry your mum under the Act or by native law and custom.

You need to answer the two questions first before i give my advice.

Cheers!

uche13: Firstly, did your father die living behind a will?

Also, did your father marry your mum under the Act or by native law and custom.

You need to answer the two questions first before i give my advice.

Cheers!

Thanks for your reply.
for ans to your questions
1.my father did not write a will.
2.my father wedded my mother in church and she has her married certificate, i think they also got from court.

awaits your please.

Sorry for responding late!

I do not know your state of Origin but i will answer you based on the applicable law in Lagos State which is mostly reproduced in other states. You can also tell me where you come from so i can research if there is a similar law there.\

In Lagos, if a man dies intestate(without a will) and there was marriage done under the Act (court), the real and personal properties of the deceased vests in the Chief Judge of the State where the deceased resides until a grant of letters of administration is issued appointing administrators to administer the estate of the deceased.

Application for letters of administration starts with obtaining death certificate of the deceased from the hospital where the deceased died. after this is done, you go to the probate registry to obtain forms for application for letters of administration which would be submitted with other documents.

Now to the real question, that is who is entitled to the grant of Letters of Administration, the order of priority is as follow:

1. The surviving spouse(your mum)
2. The children of the deceased
3. The deceased' parents
4. Brothers and sisters of the whole blood or their issue
5. Brothers and sisters of half-blood
6. Grand parents
7. Uncles and Aunts.

It therefore means that your step brother cannot assume ownership over that property yet as doing so would be unlawful. None of you have a right to the property of your father because you have not yet followed the right procedure as required by law. Your mum should therefore act fast, go to the probate registry and apply to obtain the letters of administration and then act from there.

Good luck

Your brother has some solid points and as it is you are trying to deprive the other kids of their inheritance.
You are aware of the position of the first male child in ibo tradition.

The house in question is your father's obi and that was where he lived during his lifetime. So,according to customary laws, it belongs to the diokpala who is now contending the property with you. In my 'not to short' stay in the east I have come to realise, the reverence given to this paticular custom. It seems your step brother hasn't avered his mind to the fact that your customary law is not applicable here.

Since you said your parents married under the act, and your father died without making a will, the customary laws of your place would not apply but the administration of estates laws.

Firstly, you should retain the services of a lawyer and As uche rightly said,apply for letters of administration. Then, your step brother can contend the grant of the letter if he wants.

Do not be intimidated or threatened by your step brother. Even if he takes you to court before you obtain the letter,do not panic. He cannot wake up from his slumber after 19 years and expect miracles like this to happen. Hope for the best.

uche13: Sorry for responding late!

I do not know your state of Origin but i will answer you based on the applicable law in Lagos State which is mostly reproduced in other states. You can also tell me where you come from so i can research if there is a similar law there.\

In Lagos, if a man dies intestate(without a will) and there was marriage done under the Act (court), the real and personal properties of the deceased vests in the Chief Judge of the State where the deceased resides until a grant of letters of administration is issued appointing administrators to administer the estate of the deceased.

Application for letters of administration starts with obtaining death certificate of the deceased from the hospital where the deceased died. after this is done, you go to the probate registry to obtain forms for application for letters of administration which would be submitted with other documents.

Now to the real question, that is who is entitled to the grant of Letters of Administration, the order of priority is as follow:

1. The surviving spouse(your mum)
2. The children of the deceased
3. The deceased' parents
4. Brothers and sisters of the whole blood or their issue
5. Brothers and sisters of half-blood
6. Grand parents
7. Uncles and Aunts.

It therefore means that your step brother cannot assume ownership over that property yet as doing so would be unlawful. None of you have a right to the property of your father because you have not yet followed the right procedure as required by law. Your mum should therefore act fast, go to the probate registry and apply to obtain the letters of administration and then act from there.

Good luck

Those
This step 1 to 7 has been taking like 18 years ago by my mother and my step brother.

ie. they have changed the ownership of the 2 properties to their names and it is nolonger in my fathers name.
i'm ibo,and from Anambra state.
the houses are at Enugu state.

Rotmyt: The house in question is your father's obi and that was where he lived during his lifetime. So,according to customary laws, it belongs to the diokpala who is now contending the property with you. In my 'not to short' stay in the east I have come to realise, the reverence given to this paticular custom. It seems your step brother hasn't avered his mind to the fact that your customary law is not applicable here.

Since you said your parents married under the act, and your father died without making a will, the customary laws of your place would not apply but the administration of estates laws.

Firstly, you should retain the services of a lawyer and As uche rightly said,apply for letters of administration. Then, your step brother can contend the grant of the letter if he wants.

Do not be intimidated or threatened by your step brother. Even if he takes you to court before you obtain the letter,do not panic. He cannot wake up from his slumber after 19 years and expect miracles like this to happen. Hope for the best.

the house is not our Village house,so it is not my father's obi. his obi is in village.


Please what still can my mother do since the properties have been changed to my mother and my step brother's name.
and my step brother says where my mother is living is the house he wants now.

again is it through that if my mother has lived and managed the place for 20 years without any report of any problem the house automatically be comes hers?

You have been given some sound legal advice that I need to summarize here which is that your mother has priority over the assets of your deceased father and she must act quickly to protect her rights. Your mother needs a good lawyer quick! The estate must be probated ASAP.

I am having a somewhat similar inheritance dispute right now within my family, i'm pissed, my brother is a numbnuts honestly, am sorry but he is, selfish and ungrateful human being ugh. I read the posts here but i am a bit unclear as to who would be entitled to what according to letter of administration in Nigeria, so i will make a thread of my own asking for help, i don't want to post it on this thread so not to steer the attention away from what the thread is about. But if you can help then please check out my thread after responding to this one, thankyou.