The appellant, a mother who shared two young children with the respondent, appealed a judgment awarding custody of the couple’s children to the respondent after their divorce. At the time of the original custody order, the children were residing with the appellant in Malawi, but the court granted custody to the respondent to raise them in England.
The Supreme Court of Appeal heard an appeal over property rights and division of matrimonial property that occurred during a polygamous marriage, when a wife evicted the fourth wife and her children from the property after the death of the husband. Use of a matrimonial home by one wife did not mean the wife had property rights over the home, according to the court; proof of joint ownership is required for a wife to acquire the property after the death of her husband.
