Sugar daddies, side chicks and contestation of Will

It sounds hilarious but it means the world to many. YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE delves into the contention over claims of a mistress not listed in her deceased lover’s will.

The recent assertion by a social media influencer that side chicks can contest a man’s will in court has given rise to various debates within and outside the legal circle, with many saying such an assertion is a wrong interpretation based on the author’s perspective.

Social media user with the handle, @Morris_Monye, recently declared that side chicks that receive monthly allowances from a man have the legal right to challenge the man’s will in court as long as they can provide any documents such as a bank statement to prove that she is a dependant of the man in his lifetime.

While he confessed that he just recently learnt about the existence of laws protecting a man’s hidden girlfriend or side chic, he advised men to prioritise safeguarding their families.

“If as a man, you die and you leave a Will for your family, your side-chick can contest that Will if and if she can prove in court that you’ve been sending her money monthly via bank statement. Provisions are made for beneficiaries and dependents. She falls under dependents. I’m just learning this now,” he stated.

According to him, as the deceased man’s dependent, a man’s hidden lover may contest the validity of the will. He added that the law exists under Lagos State Government laws.

The debate was initially sparked by a Nigerian Trust advisor, Iyiosa Ediagbonya on February 29, while speaking on a program on a radio station, Nigeria Info, where he was discussing will interpretation and execution in Lagos state.

He said that Lagos laws allow a side chick to contest her sugar daddy’s will if she wasn’t included in it.

He said, “Identify yourself first of all and then state who your beneficiaries are, wife/children or husband/children, brother, sister, whoever else and then the next thing to do in the will is to name executors, corporate or individual.”

When however asked if the law recognises a will where the beneficiaries are not part of the family, like a man willing all his assets to the children of his mistress, Iyiosa said “it’s contestable and I will tell you why? Even though there are provisions given for beneficiaries, there are also provisions given for dependants especially in the wills law of Lagos state. You must make provisions for dependents. Who are dependents? People that can prove that for a while you were financially responsible to their needs’’

He went on to state that if a man’s mistress can provide bank statements proving that he has been sending her money for as long as they were together, there are provisions for her within the Lagos wills law.

This has given birth to lots of opinion on who has legal standing to challenge a Will and which individual are legally permitted to contest a will because going by the provisions of the law, not everyone can contest a will; a lawsuit filed to challenge the validity of a last will and testament can only be filed by certain people who would be personally and financially affected by the will’s terms if it were to be accepted by the court as it is. In legal terms, these people are said to have ‘standing.’

Will contests are very complex area of the law so it is important to find out if one has a legal standing and possible grounds, that is, a supportable reason why the will should be overturned considering that most states impose time limits on contesting a will simply because probate procedure can’t proceed until the contest or challenge is resolved and this duration depends on individual state.

 

Who can sue?

It is legal to sue the estate during the probate process but not everyone can do this, except he is qualified to be addressed as an interested party and the Probate Code identifies interested persons as family members referred to as heirs, creditors, beneficiaries, other parties with a property right or claim against the estate and things that can be contested covers real estate, bank accounts and identified pieces of personal property

However, no one can contest a will just because of a perception that he received a fair share and based on basic probate laws, only interested persons may challenge a will and this must be for valid legal reasons only. Valid legal reasons to contest a will include unclear provisions of the will, insufficient or inappropriate witnesses, lack of testamentary capacity when the deceased wrote the last will and testament, existence of a later valid will and fraud or someone exerting undue influence over the testator.

The only parties with legal standing to challenge a will and sue for inheritance are those named in the will or should have been, someone that can show that he/she would have received something of value (typically money) if the person died without a will and those that will inherit under the will if a judge deems the will invalid (heir).

According to the provisions of the law, beneficiaries that can contest a Will include children, surviving spouse, grandchildren, other relatives including friends, faith communities or charities

 

Heirs challenge

Heirs can challenge a will if they are omitted or if left with a disproportionate share in the inheritance because they would have received a share of the estate through intestacy laws.

Minors are not legally able to initiate legal proceedings; they can only challenge a will once they have reached the age of majority, statutorily, age 18 except a parent or guardian initiates a lawsuit while they are minors.

There are many terms and factors that can come up in a probate process or will administration, following the provisions of the law and all these factors are determinants in the outcome of the process. Such factors include Disinherited Heirs-at-Law, beneficiaries and fiduciaries in a prior Will and “No Contest” clauses among others.

An heir-at-law is someone who is so closely related to the decedent and would have received a share of the estate if the decedent had died without a will. Heirs-at-law have standing to contest a will as property passes to them via a process known as intestate succession, that is when someone dies without a will. And in most states, it is the spouse or direct descendants; children and grandchildren, that inherit first. Parents and more distant family members, such as siblings, would only inherit if the decedent weren’t married and left no living children or grandchildren.

But when someone that is expected normally to benefit from intestate succession is cut off, that is, when such a person is removed from a will as a beneficiary, the person becomes a Disinherited Heirs-at-Law. And such people have legal standing to file a will contest though it doesn’t necessarily mean they would win the case. They must establish that the deceased didn’t intentionally cut them out of the will, or that the will isn’t valid for some other reason.

 

Beneficiaries and fiduciaries

Any person or entity named in an older will would have sufficient legal standing to contest a more recent will if he has subsequently been cut out of the recent document. He would also have standing if his share of the estate were reduced. Also, if an individual was named as fiduciary or executor of the estate in the first will, but he’s been replaced in a subsequent will, he should have adequate standing to challenge the more recent last will and testament.

 

No Contest Clauses

A potential complication is that some wills include ‘no contest’ clauses that state that beneficiaries will lose the inheritance the will gives them if they unsuccessfully challenge and lose the will contest in court though a beneficiary that has been cut off the Will entirely at inception, has nothing to lose by challenging the will; if someone is not a beneficiary of the will and sues for an inheritance, the no-contest clause will not affect his case. He/she would not have inherited property anyway. However, not all states enforce no-contest clauses.

 

Time limits in challenging a Will

An interested party in a Will must know about the applicable statute of limitations, which is a legal limit that prevents people from initiating legal actions long after relevant information disappears, in a probate matter. Once the timeline lapses, a suit can no longer be filed. The statute of limitations ensures that someone does not try to claim a property long after the personal representative distributes the property.  State laws vary and can be as short as several months.

 

Status of side chick in marriage Act

While there are arguments on side chicks being legally allowed to contest a Will, the status of the side chic legally in contemporary Nigerian society is not in contention as the law does not identify such a term according to lawyers. In simple terms, a side chick is a mistress, mostly a younger girl or a woman that a man secretly dates in addition to his legal wife in a consensual amorous relationship purely for sexual gratification

However, lawyers are in agreement on the fact that this is unknown to law. Many lawyers have publicly backed up their assertions on this with the provisions of law.

Olubunmi Akinseye Esq said “a side chick under the marriage Act, to the best of my knowledge, is some woman that is other than the woman that the owner of the side-chick voluntarily entered into marriage with, impliedly meaning “a partner in adultery” to such married man. If the truth be told a spade should be called its common name, instead of the descriptive words to create deception.

According to Jerry Adeyogbe Esq, “to begin with, what is marriage? Marriage is defined according to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 8th Edition as “legal relationship between a husband and wife.” It follows therefore that a person with whom a husband or wife could be having an extra-marital affair or unofficial relationship with could be regarded as Side chick. The word Side chicks is a slang often used by most African men to describe concubines or ladies with whom they often have a fling with, and are also regarded as “Adulterers” under the Matrimonial Causes Act.

In law, where an allegation of adultery is made against a party to the marriage by another party to the marriage, such is actionable in the civil court following which the aggrieved party can claim damages.

For Ilemobayo Akinbote Esq, “the word side chick is unknown to our law. Marriage under the Marriage Act, is a union of one man and one woman till death do them part. A side chick has no place in a statutory marriage; she is just like a passenger in vehicle and nothing more. The side chick has nothing to lay claim to neither does she have any right whatsoever. Legally speaking, the word side chick is not in our family law in Nigeria.

Another lawyer, Amoo, Babatunde Oluwaseun Esq. said,  “marriage is the union between a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others. It excludes intimate relationships with any other person. However, it is not uncommon for married woman or man to engage in adultery. What then is the status of side chick or a mistress in view of the provisions of the Marriage Act? A side chick or a mistress has no place under a marriage contracted under the Act.

“If anything, she can only render herself liable in damage in Matrimonial proceeding provided the adulterous act was not condoned and it happened within three years of presenting the petition. For instance, section 15(2)(b) of the Matrimonial Causes Act states that: “ The court hearing a petition for a decree of dissolution of a marriage shall hold the marriage to have broken down irretrievably if the respondent has committed adultery and the petitioner finds it intolerable to live with the respondent,” he added.

Olusegun Akeredolu Esq said “Though socio-legally speaking, having a side chick is not an offence under the Ondo State Law (Criminal Code Law), as established by the Court in Aoko v. Fagbeyemi (1961) 1 ALL NLR 400, it is immoral, an offensive practice to many people in Nigeria. This underlines the social truism that morality and law are separate concepts.

This code of law derives its validity from the constitutional principle that on no account should a person be punished for any omission or conduct or whatsoever that is not prescribed as an offense in any written law in Nigeria. Under the Marriage Act, a side chick has nothing more than social status, and is only relevant for evidential purposes in matrimonial-related litigation.

Also, Olaleye Akintububo Esq, said “As far as I am concerned, side chick is not known to law but to the best of my knowledge it is a colloquial expression depicting a woman, usually a young lady who is into romantic relationship with a married man. A side chick therefore is a romantic girlfriend, so to say, of a married man. The Marriage Act does not make any provision for side chick or any other erotic relationship in marriage, rather the Marriage Act, being one of the received English Law frowns at any form of infidelity in marriage.

“As a matter of fact, any relationship be it side chick or any other form of relationship that involves sexual intercourse between a married man with any other person he is not lawfully married to or a married woman with any other man she is not married to is adultery simpliciter and the law frowns at it. Take notice that adultery is one of the grounds for dissolution of marriage.”

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