Ghana - Obtain Legal Heir Certificate (Succession Certificate)

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Procedure

Apply In-Person:

1. To Obtain Legal Heir Certificate (Succession Certificate) in person, the applicant must visit the General Legal Council office or Supreme Court of Ghana or Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice.
2. Address and contact details can be found in the following Contact link or Contact link

Apply through Civil Court for Succession Certificate

1. Applicant(legal heir) shall make a petition in the prescribed format at the competent Civil Court within whose jurisdiction the asset of the deceased is situated (applicant shall apply through a lawyer as applicable).
2. Once the petition is received, the court issues a notice in the newspapers as well as to all the respondents.
3. The notice calls for objections, if any, to issue succession certificate, and provides a period of 45(applicable period of time) days to do the same along with necessary documentary proofs.
4. The applicant has to make sure he or she has all the required documents that are required for this process to be successful and they can be found under the "Required Documents" section of this page.
5. On expiry of the time period, if the court does not receive any responses and no one contests the petition, the court passes an order on the succession certificate.
6. Payment of appropriate fees should be made and that can be found under the "Fees" section of this page.
7. The fee has to be paid in the form of judicial stamp papers for sufficient amount (fixed percentage of the value of the estate) as levied by court.
8. After which the certificate shall be issued.

Apply In-Person for Legal Heir

1. Applicant should obtain the registration form from the local municipality officer.
2. Applicant must be filled all the details in the registration form.
3. Please go to the respective office and submit the completed application form along with the required document to the respective authorities.
4. Authorities after receiving the application will check the attached documents and details. If all are in place, they will make entries in their registry (or electronically through PC) and provide the applicant record number for reference.
5. The respective authority will assign the application for further processing to the authorities concerned.
6. There will be a ground level verification and scrutiny of the documents submitted by the above authorities.
7. Once the verification is over, these officials will submit their report to the respective authority to decide and issue the Certificate to the applicant with the names of all legal heirs of the deceased.
8. The Processing time for this procedure takes 14 days.

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Required Documents

• Application form
• Death certificate
• Identity Card
• Ghana card
• written / prescribed application form
• Proof of residence of deceased person (Voter ID / DL / Bank Pass Book etc.,)

In case of Spouse applies for certificate

• If the spouse survives, Ghana card, Marriage Registration Certificate or Passport or Voter ID should be submitted.
• Birth certificate or Transfer Certificate of all Children.
• Self declaration of the spouse indicating all other legal heirs (including Mother-in-law if wife is the applicant).

In case of Child applies if parent are deceased

• Death Certificate of the parents.
• Birth certificate / Ghana / Passport / T.C of the applicant and national identity card of all possible heirs.

In case of Child (minor) applies if parents are deceased

• Death Certificate of the parents.
• Birth certificate / Ghana card/ Passport / T.C of the applicant and national identity card of all possible heirs.
• Guardianship order issued by the Honourable civil court to prove relationship to the heirs.

In case of Parents or sibling apply (unmarried children deceased)

• Death Certificate of the Deceased.
• Birth certificate / Ghana / Passport / T.C of the deceased.
• Self declaration of the parents / siblings.

Office Locations & Contacts

Supreme Court of Ghana
Judicial Service of Ghana
John Evans Atta Mills High St, Accra, Ghana
GQWW+74 Accra, Ghana
P.O. Box GP 119, Accra
Tel: (+233) 0302-663 951, (+233) 0302-663 954, (+233) 0302-666 671
Fax: (+233) 0302-665 077, (+233) 0302-666 673
LAW COURT COMPLEX ACCRA
Tel: (+233) 0302-748100, (+233) 0302-748 101, (+233) 0302-748 102
COMPLAINTS UNIT
Tel: (+233) 0302-748103
Location link
Contact link

Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice
Government office in Accra, Ghana
HR23+V36, Accra, Ghana
Call: +44-888-12-345.
Email address: [email protected]
Location link
Contact link

Eligibility

• Wife of the deceased can apply
• Son or daughter of the deceased can apply
• Father or Mother of the deceased can apply
• Sibling of the deceased can apply

Fees

• Authorities shall provide further information. Please pay as authorities quote.
• Applying through Civil court may cost you more as per requirement.

Validity

• The validity period of this certificate has been enhanced to life long as per go.

Documents to Use

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Sample Documents

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Processing Time

• Apply through Civil Court for Succession Certificate- this process takes 45 days.
• Apply In-Person for Legal Heir- this process takes 14 days.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
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Instructions

• A legal heir certificate is issued by the government for those individuals whose parent/husband is dead without leaving a will.
• To establish relationship for claims relating to Insurance, pension, retirement benefits or service benefits of central and state government departments, Government undertakings etc.
• In legal succession cases to get succession certificate to establish the relationship
• To get employments for example compassionate appointments.
• Approach the District Thasildar office with the death certificate and produce the form.
• All required documents to be submit while lodging the application.
• It will take around a month to process all the necessary information and receive the certificate.

Required Information

• Name of the applicant
• Address of the applicant
• Age and sex of the applicant
• Nationality
• Deceased name
• Family member Names and Relationship
• Residential Address
• Date of application
• Signature
• Declaration

Need for the Document

• Legal Heirs certificate is an important document in determining the rightful ownership for an asset / property in situation of sudden demise of the Owner as per document registered.
• Legal Heirs certificate plays a vital role for the prospective buyer, Loan sanction authority and all stake holders to know whom are all the right owners to deal with the proposed property

Information which might help

• This certificate can be used for several years.
• Fill the application details correctly without any mistake.

NOTE: It is a punishable offense to try with fraudulent documents to get a Legal heir certificate.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

• Legal Heir Certificate can be used to establish relationship for claims relating to Insurance, pension, retirement benefits or service benefits of central and state government departments, Government undertakings etc. It is also useful for filing IT Return and claim refunds of the deceased person.

External Links

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Others

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