Separation Does Not End Marriage – Court Rules

Justice Oluwayoyin Odusanya of the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja has reaffirmed a key principle of family law, ruling that separation does not dissolve a valid marriage without a formal divorce.

Based on this principle of the law, Justice Odusanya also declared that Mrs Adenike Ajayi is the sole legitimate widow of the late founder and chief executive officer of First Foundation Hospital, Dr Tosin Ajayi.

The verdict settled a five-year legal dispute over the medical entrepreneur’s estate between his widow and a former beauty queen, Helen Prest, who had claimed to be his spouse.

The court dismissed the ex-beauty queen’s claims and affirmed that Mrs Ajayi remained legally married to the deceased until his death on April 26, 2020.

At the centre of the dispute was whether years of separation between the late doctor and Mrs Ajayi had effectively ended their marriage.

The court responded negatively, emphasising that a legally contracted monogamous marriage remains valid unless formally dissolved through proper legal procedures.

Justice Odusanya agreed with the arguments presented by the claimants’ counsel, Kunle Adegoke (SAN), that the marriage persisted throughout Dr Ajayi’s lifetime and could not be extinguished simply through prolonged separation.

While reviewing Helen Prest’s claim that she entered into a Kalabari customary marriage with the deceased, the judge found that this claim lacked credible evidence and was unsupported by essential details such as the date, venue, or documentary proof of the alleged ceremony.

Justice Odusanya described the customary marriage claim as an afterthought, pointing out inconsistencies in Prest’s previous legal positions, in which she had at different times described herself as a common-law partner and as being in a civil-law relationship with Dr Ajayi.

The court further held that even if such a customary marriage had occurred, it would have been invalid because the evidence showed that Prest was still legally married to her former husband, Mr Davies, at the time she claimed to have married Dr. Ajayi.

Therefore, the court affirmed Mrs Ajayi as the deceased’s only legally recognised spouse, entitling her to one-third of his personal estate and granting her exclusive authority to apply for letters of administration over the estate.

With the ruling, Mrs Ajayi and her children secured a complete victory, while all of Helen Prest’s claims for spousal recognition were dismissed.