A public defender with the Legal Aid Commission (LAC) has cautioned Ghanaians that civil marriages contracted abroad primarily for immigration purposes remain legally binding until formally dissolved through proper judicial channels. Lawyer Ernestina Obboh Botchwey, widely known as Lawyer Tina, addressed the widespread misconception that so-called paper marriages can be abandoned without legal consequences.
In a video published on her YouTube channel Ghana Law and More, the legal practitioner emphasized that Ghanaian law recognizes no distinction between marriages contracted for immigration benefits and those entered for traditional reasons. She warned that individuals who contract subsequent marriages without dissolving their paper marriages create potentially serious legal complications for themselves and their new partners.
Paper marriages have become increasingly common among Ghanaians seeking residency permits or citizenship in countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany. These arrangements typically involve marriages to citizens of those countries as a pathway to obtaining legal status. However, Lawyer Tina stressed that meeting the statutory requirements for a civil marriage creates a valid legal union regardless of the parties’ underlying motivations.
“You can say you merely married for papers and it is not a proper legal marriage. No. If you have a civil marriage just for papers, you can’t argue in Court that it wasn’t a legal marriage. You must dissolve that marriage before you marry again,” she explained in Twi during her presentation.
The legal expert cited the Supreme Court case Ernestina Boateng v Phyllis Serwah and Others to illustrate the binding nature of marriages contracted for convenience. The Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that court marriages remain legally in force unless properly dissolved through judicial processes, even when parties have abandoned those unions and entered into other relationships.
The case involved a woman who married a man in Ghana through customary marriage after meeting him in Belgium. When the woman later sought divorce and claimed joint ownership of properties, it emerged that she had contracted an earlier monogamous marriage that was allegedly only for immigration documents. The Supreme Court determined that marriages of convenience are not categorized separately under Ghanaian law, and once parties meet statutory requirements for contracting a monogamous marriage, that marriage remains valid and can only be dissolved by a court of law.
Lawyer Tina warned that entering subsequent marriages without properly ending paper marriages creates situations where individuals may unwittingly commit bigamy. The legal complications extend beyond potential criminal liability to affect property rights, inheritance claims, and the validity of children born in subsequent unions. She stressed that abandoned marriages do not simply cease to exist through the passage of time or the parties’ mutual agreement to ignore them.
The LAC public defender advised Ghanaians living abroad or considering immigration marriages to seek proper legal counsel before entering such arrangements. She recommended that anyone currently trapped in an abandoned paper marriage should begin dissolution proceedings immediately rather than hoping the situation resolves itself. The formal divorce process, while potentially complicated for parties in different countries, remains the only legally recognized method for ending a valid marriage under Ghanaian law.
Legal practitioners note that the intersection of immigration law and family law creates particular challenges for Ghanaians in diaspora communities. Immigration authorities in many countries scrutinize marriage-based applications intensively to detect fraudulent arrangements. Successfully obtaining residency or citizenship through marriage ironically creates the very legal bond that applicants may later wish to escape.
Lawyer Tina’s warning arrives as more Ghanaians pursue economic opportunities abroad and consider various pathways to legal status in their host countries. Her message underscores the importance of understanding that shortcuts taken for immigration purposes can create lasting legal obligations that follow individuals across borders and throughout their lives.
