By Desire Emmanuel
A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja on Wednesday, June 17, declared Adenike Ajayi as the only lawful widow of Dr Tosin Ajayi, the founder of First Foundation Hospital, ending year-long legal dispute over his estate.
Justice Oluwayoyin Odusanya, in a judgment delivered on Wednesday, granted all the reliefs sought by Adenike Ajayi and her children and dismissed claims by former beauty queen, Helen Prest, that she was also a spouse of the late medical doctor.
The judge said separation between the husband and wife did not mean the end of the marriage, saying the union subsisted till the man’s death as the marriage was never dissolved.
The dispute began in 2021 following Dr Ajayi’s death on April 26, 2020, after competing claims emerged over his estate and the identity of his spouse.
Justice Odusanya ruled that separation, regardless of how long it lasted, does not automatically end a valid marriage unless there is formal dissolution.
The court also considered Prest’s claim that she had a Kalabari customary marriage with the late doctor.
However, the judge ruled that she failed to provide evidence to support the claim.
The court noted inconsistencies in her earlier legal filings where she had previously described herself as a common-law partner and at another time claimed to be in a civil-law union with the deceased.
Justice Odusanya also held that Prest did not establish key details of the alleged customary marriage, including when and where it took place.
The court further ruled that the alleged customary marriage would have been invalid because evidence showed Prest was still legally married to her former husband at the time she claimed to have married Dr Ajayi.
The court therefore dismissed her claim to spousal status and affirmed Mrs Ajayi as the only recognised spouse of the deceased.
Justice Odusanya also ruled that Adenike Ajayi is entitled to one-third of Dr Ajayi’s personal estate and she is the only spouse qualified to apply for letters of administration over the estate.
