Kweku Paintsil, a private legal practitioner, has cautioned individuals to refrain from hiding the wills of testators after their demise. According to him, such acts attract legal punishments when one keeps a will of a deceased testator for over two weeks.

Mr Paintsil further revealed that such a person will be liable to receiving a maximum of 10 years imprisonment or a fine.

Advising the public, he noted that the right thing to do is for those people to deposit the copy of the will in their possession at the High Court’s Registry.

“When you make a will, all that the law requires is that a copy must be left at the High Court’s Registry. The law also makes it incumbent that anybody who has gotten a copy of that will, upon hearing of the testator’s death, is incumbent within two weeks for you to lodge a copy of the will or the document that is in your hands, at the Registry of the High Court.

“But if you fail that, there are criminal sanctions. You can be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years and GH10, 000 which essentially, is a very strict liability law.

“In other words, the burden will be on you to demonstrate why you haven’t sent the document and it also gives you an idea of how the lawmaker considers the conduct of keeping somebody’s will with you without sending it to court”.

The legal practitioner also explained that such punitive measure is in place to discourage individuals from keeping the will.

“Some people discover wills and they deliberately keep it away with the intent that in the absence of the will, they will benefit from the estate. People steal wills”.

Religion and the law

Meanwhile, Kweku Paintsil, revealed that religion has no part in one’s decision to make a will.

According to him, “it is important to make a will because the Intestate Succession Law 1985 (PNDCL 111) gives legal backing to it”.

Mr Paintsil further iterated that, an individual’s decision to make a will must not be hindered by his or her religious background.

“Therefore, being a Muslim does not stop you. On the contrary, the doctrines in your Quran is what you must use to make your will in your own life time, according to your beliefs and understanding. So that is what people need to understand, that it’s got nothing to do with religion”.

Justifying his stance, Mr Paintsil further discredited some held beliefs which have prevented people from making a will.

“A lot of people think that once you are making a will, you are pointing a gun or the will points a gun at you and shoots you after the will. That’s a misperception. People think that wills are for people who have reached a certain age. People also think that a will is done by people who have acquired wealth to a certain stage. It is a misconception.

“A will, will make it possible for the distribution of your properties in a manner you deem best”.

Additionally, he maintained that a will can be revoked, either by destroying it before a witness or creating a totally new will.

“You can also revoke a will by another document. Because, typically, anytime we make a will, what we say is that this will, I hereby revoke all former testamentary scripts and whatever. That’s a usual clause we put in”.