When someone in Ghana dies without a will, their own property is shared out under the Intestate Succession Law, 1985 (PNDCL 111), as amended. The law was written to stop a surviving wife or husband and the children being left with nothing while the extended family took the house. It does that in three steps.
A new law has been waiting for years
An Intestate Succession Bill to replace this law has been before Parliament in one form or another since 2009, and was still there in March 2026. Until it is passed, the shares below are the law. Check with a lawyer whether that has changed.
What it covers, and what it does not
It covers the dead person’s self-acquired property: what they bought, built or earned themselves. It does not cover stool, skin or family property, which follows customary law, nor anything left by a will. If a will deals with only part of the estate, the rest is shared under this law.
Step 1: the household things
The surviving spouse and children, or whichever of them survive, take all the household chattels outright (s.3). The law’s list is wide: jewellery, clothes, furniture, the fridge, the television and other appliances, kitchen things, books, simple farm tools, household animals, and any car not used wholly for business.
Step 2: one house
If the estate includes a house, the spouse and children take one house (s.4). If there are several, they choose which; if they will not or cannot, the High Court decides on the administrator’s application. A spouse and children who take it together own it as tenants in common.
Step 3: the rest
Everything else - the residue - is shared by who survives (ss.5 to 8):
| Survived by | Spouse | Children | Parents | Customary law (the family) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spouse and children | three-sixteenths | nine-sixteenths | one-eighth | one-eighth |
| Spouse only | half | - | a quarter | a quarter |
| Children only | - | three-quarters | one-eighth | one-eighth |
| Parents only | - | - | three-quarters | a quarter |
Where there is no surviving parent, the parent’s share goes to the family under customary law. Where no customary law applies, that share is divided equally among the others (s.9). With no spouse, child or parent, everything goes by customary law, or to the state if no customary law applies (s.11).
Two more rules:
- A child at school must be reasonably provided for before anything is shared (s.5).
- “Child” includes an adopted child and any child the person recognised as theirs - not only children of the marriage. “Spouse” has to be a spouse the law recognises, which is why registering a customary marriage matters.
— Getting married, and registering it
The spouse and children cannot be thrown out
Before the estate is distributed, nobody may eject a surviving spouse or child from the matrimonial home (s.16A):
- if it was the dead person’s own house - at all;
- if it is rented - except by court order;
- if it is the dead person’s family house - for 6 months after the death;
- if it is public property - for 3 months after the death.
Ejecting them, keeping them from property they are entitled to use, or removing or destroying the dead person’s property before distribution is an offence (s.17), and the court can order them put back.
What to do
- Get the death certificate. Nothing moves without it.
- Apply for letters of administration at the High Court. The person appointed administrator collects the property, pays the debts and shares out the rest under this law. Usually that is the spouse or an adult child.
- List everything: the house, bank accounts, land, vehicles, money owed to the person. A SSNIT survivors’ benefit is separate: it is paid to the dependants the member nominated, not shared under this law, so claim it from SSNIT directly.
- Use a lawyer if the family disputes it, if there is land, or if there is more than one house. The Legal Aid Commission helps those who cannot pay.
— Death certificates — Land law and conveyancing — Professional services: lawyers
The simplest protection
Write a will. It decides what this law would otherwise decide, including for property the shares above would send to the wider family.