FAMILY PROPERTY IN NIGERIAN LAW

In this blog you are about to know the meaning of family property within the context of Nigerian law and what is void and voidable sale.

What is a Family Property? It is a property or properties owned collectively by the family as a whole. A family property is not and can never be a personal property as such no individual can deal with or act solely on Family property in Nigeria as if it’s a personal property.

In Nigerian Law, If the head of the family dies intestate (without Will) his beneficiaries are expected to share his property(ies) which is the “family property” equally. In Nigeria, if the head of the family married 2 wives, his property/ properties will be shared into 2 equal parts between the 2 wives. The 2 wives will in turn share theirs according to number of beneficiaries she has. On the other hand if the head of the family married only 1 wife his property/properties will be shared equally among the beneficiaries (children).

Read alsoDEED OF GIFT

Where the head of each family or the first son(in a lay man’s language) sell the property of their late father(family property) without the consent of the other family members, the sell is voidable meaning that the sell can be cancelled whenever the other family members have knowledge of the sale. On the other hand if they have knowledge of it and decide to let it be then the sale is acceptable in law.

But if another member of the family not the 1^st son sell their late father’s property without the consent of the 1^st son or the other members of the family, the sale is void… meaning that he does not have the right to sell and as such the sale is not acceptable in law.

Anybody that buys a family property from an individual member of the family does not have title to the land because the individual member does not have any title to bequeath to anybody when it comes to family property.