₦airaland Forum

Hello fellow nairalanders.
The dilemma of a sister.
This woman is a widow with 3 children aged between 11 and 13 years.
Her late husband succumbed to a protracted chronic illness after about 3 years. The sad experience the man, wife and children went through during those harrowing period is better imagined. During his last one year in life, the wife had to drive him to the hospital far from their home every other day for treatment.
He died leaving a house, a row of shops on another piece of land plus an undeveloped land.

It's been 9 years this year that he died. The widow, in her late thirties chose not to remarry but to devote her time to training the children with the meagre income from a few rented property and petty trading.
Since his demise, not a single one of his siblings has ever bothered to offer any assistance for the children's education and upkeep. They warned the woman she dared not get pregnant in the house and if she must get married, she must hand over the children to them and move away from the house. The deceased was a salary earner but blessed enough to virtually
develop a piece of land belonging to his elder brother.

Sometimes, they make demands for financial assistance from her thinking she lives in comfort because of the few property never minding the fact that she struggles to make ends meet. Virtually all these siblings also struggle to survive and hence, none of them can take adequate care of the children. The ploy behind their threat to take over the children is apparently to take over the property and separate the woman from her children.

What would my fellow experienced nairalanders advise this unfortunate woman to do in the circustance ?
Is there any legal
steps she can take to overcome her plight ?

Please advise. Thanks.

PenSniper:
➜Hello fellow nairalanders. The dilemma of a sister. This woman is a widow with 3 children aged between 11 and 13 years. Her late husband succumbed to a protracted chronic illness after about 3 years. The sad experience the man, wife and children went through during those harrowing period is better imagined. During his last one year in life, the wife had to drive him to the hospital far from their home every other day for treatment. He died leaving a house, a row of shops on another piece of land plus an undeveloped land.
➜It's been 9 years this year that he died. The widow, in her late thirties chose not to remarry but to devote her time to training the children with the meagre income from a few rented property and petty trading. Since his demise, not a single one of his siblings has ever bothered to offer any assistance for the children's education and upkeep. They warned the woman she dared not get pregnant in the house and if she must get married, she must hand over the children to them and move away from the house. The deceased was a salary earner but blessed enough to virtually develop a piece of land belong to his elder brother.
Sometimes, they make demands for financial assistance from her thinking she lives in comfort because of the few property never minding the fact that she struggles to make ends meet. Virtually all these siblings also struggle to survive and hence, none of them can take adequate care of the children. The ploy behind their threat to take over the children is apparently to take over the property and separate the woman from her children.
➜ What would my fellow experienced nairalanders advise this unfortunate woman to do in the circustance ? Is there any legal steps she can take to overcome her plight ? Please advise. Thanks.

1. He died and left the property to his wife, meaning he willed it to her or to his children?

2. Was this condition stipulated in the man's will or a legal agreement between your friend and the late husband's siblings? Or did the siblings make these threats up on the fly? The woman remains the legal guardian of her children by law, so why do they believe she should have to give them up in the case she chooses to marry someone else?

3. Normally, the siblings should have no right or say as to how the woman goes on to live her life— marriage right after or not— while raising the kids. However, you need to visit the man's will to realize any conditions that may have been placed in there to restrict her or not. If there is no will and the woman was legally married to the man, then his siblings are simply overstepping their bounds, and can be legally sued by her for harassment.

It's illegal to forcefully separate the children from their mother without any court order... The court has to firstly declare her mentally and financial incapable of looking after her children before they can grant the family members full custody of the children... And the family members also have to be deemed capable of looking after them and from what you said, they're all struggling, meaning they'll only subject those children to all kinds of abuse, leaving them traumatized.

But if they still go ahead and forcefully take them, then that's kidnapping and I'd advise that she opens a case of kidnapping from the nearest police station.

Why would she hand over her children to them?Are they mad? She should sell the properties and move far away from them, with her kids. If they want to give her any problems, she should involve a lawyer and human rights office. Nonsense.

Samantha125:
It's illegal to forcefully separate the children from their mother without any court order... The court has to firstly declare her mentally and financial incapable of looking after her children before they can grant the family members full custody of the children... And the family members also have to be deemed capable of looking after them and from what you said, they're all struggling, meaning they'll only subject those children to all kinds of abuse, leaving them traumatized.

But if they still go ahead and forcefully take them, then that's kidnapping and I'd advise that she opens a case of kidnapping from the nearest police station.

Thanks.
You made quite a lot of sense.
Your contribution certainly boosted my confidence that she stands a good stead in the matter.

NotOfThisWorld:
Why would she hand over her children to them?Are they mad? She should sell the properties and move far away from them, with her kids. If they want to give her any problems, she should involve a lawyer and human rights office. Nonsense.

Thanks

Kobojunkie:
1. He died and left the property to his wife, meaning he willed it to her or to his children?

2. Was this condition stipulated in the man's will or a legal agreement between your friend and the late husband's siblings? Or did the siblings make these threats up on the fly? The woman remains the legal guardian of her children by law, so why do they believe she should have to give them up in the case she chooses to marry someone else?

3. Normally, the siblings should have no right or say as to how the woman goes on to live her life— marriage right after or not— while raising the kids. However, you need to visit the man's will to realize any conditions that may have been placed in there to restrict her or not. If there is no will and the woman was legally married to the man, then his siblings are simply overstepping their bounds, and can be legally sued by her for harassment.

Thanks for your response.
That's pretty swell of you.

Regarding to some salient
points you mentioned, the man died intestate.
But they were legally married and solemnized at a marriage registry.
Thanks once again.