Court declares Adenike Ajayi sole lawful widow of late Dr. Tosin Ajayi

…Ex-beauty queen Helen Prest’s claim of customary marriage dismissed as court rules she failed to prove spousal status after nearly five-year legal battle

By Adebola Isimijola, Lagos

A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has declared Mrs. Adenike Oluwayemisi Ajayi as the sole lawful widow of the late founder and Chief Executive Officer of First Foundation Hospital, Dr. Tosin Ajayi, ending a protracted legal dispute over the deceased’s marital status and estate.

Justice Oluwayoyin Odusanya, who delivered the judgment on Wednesday, granted all the reliefs sought by Mrs. Ajayi and her children, while dismissing the claim of former beauty queen, Helen Prest, that she was also a wife of the late medical practitioner.

The dispute arose in 2021 following the death of Dr. Ajayi on April 26, 2020, over competing claims to his estate and the identity of his surviving spouse. The matter lasted nearly five years before the court reached its decision.

In the judgment, Justice Odusanya held that Mrs. Ajayi remained legally married to the deceased until his death, stressing that their monogamous marriage had never been dissolved.

According to the judge, “separation, regardless of its duration, does not automatically dissolve a legally valid marriage.”

The court also agreed with the submissions of counsel to the claimants, Mr. Kunle Adegoke (SAN), that the marriage between Dr. and Mrs. Ajayi subsisted throughout the lifetime of the deceased.

On Helen Prest’s claim that she contracted a Kalabari customary marriage with Dr. Ajayi, the court held that she failed to present credible evidence in support of the assertion.

Justice Odusanya described the alleged customary marriage as “an afterthought,” noting that Prest had taken inconsistent positions in previous legal proceedings by describing herself at different times as a common-law partner and as being in a civil-law union with the deceased.

The court further held that she failed to establish key elements of the alleged customary marriage, including the date and venue of the ceremony, while observing that no documentary or photographic evidence was presented to support the claim.

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

Consequently, the court dismissed Prest’s claim to spousal status and affirmed Mrs. Ajayi as the only legally recognised spouse of the deceased.

Justice Odusanya further upheld Mrs. Ajayi’s entitlement to one-third of Dr. Ajayi’s personal estate and ruled that she is the only spouse entitled to apply for letters of administration over the estate.

The judgment effectively settles the dispute at the High Court level and reinforces the legal principle that separation alone does not terminate a valid marriage in the absence of a formal legal dissolution.

With the ruling, Mrs. Ajayi and her children secured all the reliefs sought in the suit, while Helen Prest’s claims to recognition as a spouse of the late hospital founder were dismissed in their entirety.