COMPETING PROPRIETARY REGIMES: SPOUSAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN THE DISSOLUTION OF DOUBLE-DECKER MARRIAGES UNDER THE COEXISTENCE THEORY IN NIGERIAN FAMILY LAW

Abstract

Double-decker marriage is the practice of contracting both a customary law marriage and a statutory marriage between the same couple. This practice is deeply embedded in Nigerian social and legal culture. Where such marriages are dissolved, Nigerian law offers two competing theoretical frameworks, that is, the conversion theory, which holds that the customary marriage merges into and is superseded by the statutory marriage and the coexistence theory, which states that both marriages remain alive simultaneously, each with independent legal force. This paper examines which proprietary regime governs spousal property rights under coexistence theory, where both marriages are alive at the point of dissolution. The Matrimonial Causes Act (MCA) 2004 generates one set of property consequences, which are maintenance orders, just and equitable property settlement, and judicially enforceable financial provision. Conversely, customary marriage generates an entirely different and often times, incompatible set that governed by patrilineal inheritance norms, the absence of spousal maintenance rights, and the subordination of the wife's property claims to familial and communal interests. The paper using the doctrinal methodology identifies three core conflicts: in maintenance and financial provision, in the division of jointly acquired property, and in family and communal property claims and analyses them across two dissolution scenarios. It concludes that the coexistence theory produces a proprietary collision that neither the MCA, the Marriage Act, nor any Nigerian court has yet resolved, and proposes both legislative and judicial solutions.