Upon divorce, jointly acquired property must be divided fairly. - Attorney

Property obtained jointly during a marriage must be divided fairly upon divorce, according to Iris Aggrey-Orleans, a private attorney and partner at Beyuo and co.

She asserts that because Article 22 of the 1992 Constitution declares that the law is gender neutral, it applies to both partners in a marriage.

"Since it is gender neutral, both men and women should be able to enjoy jointly earned property after a divorce. There must be an equitable distribution, and historically, when referring to the equitable distribution, the courts have referred to it as fair play and common sense. So, depending on the circumstances, both parties can benefit from marital assets, she noted.

The prominent attorney discussed divorce and property division on JoyNews' The Law, outlining the differences between cash settlement and property division.

She cited Section 19 of the Matrimonial Causes Act, which states that a financial settlement or provision "is a just and equitable award of financial provision considering the standard of living of the parties."

"So in that regard, what you're stating is not supported by the information you have provided. What you're asserting is based on the fact that the parties were married, you were financially dependent on one party, you had a particular standard of life provided for you for a certain amount of time, and you had a reasonable expectation that you would continue to have that standard of living.

You have hurt yourself, so the court will consider things like your ability to earn an income, your style of life, the parties' ages, your unique requirements, etc. before deciding on a separate financial settlement award, she said.

She defined property distribution upon divorce as the equitable distribution of marital property to divorcing spouses.

"The two of you have combined resources, and I won't use the word money because resources could be time, energy, and/or money," she insisted. You've therefore gathered your resources in order to buy property. Whether or not the property is registered in another person's name, it becomes a marriage asset upon divorce, and you are entitled to share in its enjoyment fairly.

As each divorce case and its circumstances are different, Aggrey-Orleans claims that equitable allocation does not always equate to equal distribution.

Equity does not imply equality. It would mean equally in certain cases, but not equally in others. Therefore, you would need to consider the specifics of each instance. We can imagine two people filling a barrel, one with a smaller bucket and the other with a larger one. Naturally, the barrel will fill more quickly with the larger bucket. It doesn't imply that the person filling the barrel with the smaller bucket isn't doing so.

The court won't consider the usual incidence of commerce, according to which Ama and Kofi's contributions to the property are not equal because Ama brought in five cedis out of her income of ten cedis and Kofi brought in ten cedis out of his salary of twenty cedis. You will consider all of those occurrences and decide whether they should be split equally, in a 30:70 percentage, or in a 60:40 portion. Therefore, it is case-by-case, she stated.