A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has declared Mrs. Adenike Oluwayemisi Ajayi as the sole and lawful widow of the late founder and Chief Executive Officer of First Foundation Hospital, Dr. Tosin Ajayi.

The judgment, delivered on Wednesday by Justice Oluwayoyin Odusanya, brought to an end a protracted legal battle over the deceased’s marital status and estate.

The court granted all the reliefs sought by Mrs. Ajayi and her children, while dismissing the claim by former beauty queen, Helen Prest, that she was also a spouse of the late medical practitioner.

The dispute began in 2021, following the death of Dr. Ajayi on April 26, 2020, and centred on competing claims over his estate and the identity of his lawful surviving spouse.

The proceedings lasted nearly five years before the court delivered its verdict.

Justice Odusanya held that Mrs. Ajayi remained legally married to Dr. Ajayi until his death, noting that their monogamous marriage was never dissolved.

The court rejected the argument that the couple’s prolonged separation amounted to a termination of their marriage.

According to the judge, separation, regardless of how long it lasts, does not automatically dissolve a legally valid marriage.

The court agreed with the submissions of counsel to the claimants, Kunle Adegoke, SAN, that the marriage between Dr. Ajayi and Mrs. Ajayi subsisted throughout the lifetime of the deceased.

A major issue before the court was Helen Prest’s claim that she had contracted a Kalabari customary marriage with Dr. Ajayi.

However, the court held that Prest failed to provide credible evidence to prove the alleged customary marriage.

Justice Odusanya described the claim as an afterthought, observing that Prest had taken inconsistent positions in previous legal proceedings.

The court noted that in earlier suits, Prest had at different times described herself as a common-law partner and as being in a civil-law union with the deceased.

The judge further held that Prest could not establish essential elements of the alleged customary marriage, including the date and venue of the ceremony.

The court also noted the absence of documentary or photographic evidence to support her claim.

In addition, Justice Odusanya held that the alleged customary marriage would still have been invalid because evidence before the court showed that Prest was legally married to her former husband, Mr. Davies, at the time she claimed to have married Dr. Ajayi.

Consequently, the court dismissed her claim to spousal status and affirmed Mrs. Ajayi as the only legally recognised spouse of the deceased.

The court also upheld Mrs. Ajayi’s entitlement to one-third of Dr. Ajayi’s personal estate and ruled that she is the only spouse entitled to apply for letters of administration over the estate.

The judgment effectively resolves the dispute at the High Court level and reinforces the legal principle that separation alone does not terminate a valid marriage unless there is a formal dissolution.

With the ruling, Mrs. Ajayi and her children secured all the reliefs sought in the suit, while Helen Prest’s claims to recognition as a spouse of the late hospital founder were rejected in their entirety.

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