Two Weddings And A Funeral

(Adepoju v Akinola [2016] EWHC 3160 (Ch))

How does a court arrive at a decision that is not necessarily the objective truth?

The claimant (Adejumoke Adepoju) was described by the judge as 'argumentative, theatrical and sure she was right' and that she 'asked questions rather than answering them.' She had also lied to the court, and had taken £17,000 from her late mother's bank account referencing withdrawals as 'student loan' and 'credit card loan.' The defendant (Akinola) fared only slightly better. The judge commented that he was 'more engaged with the court than the claimant' but that 'he may have persuaded himself of the truth of things that he was told and in which he wishes to believe.'

Medinat Adepoju died intestate in July 2015. Her estate had significant value. Her daughter, the claimant, applied for Letters of Administration but was blocked by the defendant who claimed to be Medinat's widower. The question of who was entitled on intestacy and who could obtain Letters of Administration depended on whether Medinat and the defendant were recognised in England as being married. There were questions about whether a marriage had taken place, whether the defendant had actually divorced his previous wife and whether there had been a polygamous marriage. The evidence put before the court was often unclear, contradictory and unsatisfactory.

How then does a court approach and consider evidence and reach a conclusion in such circumstances?

In paragraphs 10, 11 and 12 of the judgment the court set out its approach in such circumstances:

'10. The first is that, in our system, it is for the parties to seek out and place before the court the material which they consider will assist the court and promote their case. It is not for the court to investigate of its own motion. Other relevant material may possibly exist somewhere else, but it is not the duty of the court to look for it. In general terms, the court makes a decision only on the material put before it by the parties.

11. The second point is that, in English civil procedure law, one party or the other bears the burden of proving any particular matter in issue between them. If the person bearing that burden satisfies the finder of fact (judge or jury), after considering the material before the court, that on the balance probabilities a thing happened, then, for the purposes of...