Widow says stepchildren chasing her off land

After living on a property owned by her late husband for a little more than four decades, a Clarendon woman said she is on the brink of homelessness as her stepchildren sold the land behind her back.

"Dis something just stress mi out and mi blood pressure deh sky high. All epilepsy mi get and black out sometimes. We still live on the land and we don't have anywhere and mi just have to ask the Lord to just give mi strength. Mi not going on the street by the help of God. Di children dem not even did live here. What is mines is mines and my husband say the place is mines. Mi never did expect dis because mi is not a stranger to the children. Mi just want to tell dem to leave mi alone because the property belong to mi husband and from a mi husband own, is my own," she said.

The 63-year-old said that she met her partner when she was almost 20. She said she already had two children but he was attracted to her beauty and told her that he wanted them to wed.

"Him tell mi say him wife dead and introduce mi to her parents who confirmed say dem daughter dead," she said, noting that they eventually became intimate. She said her partner told her that he had already fathered six children, five of whom were living abroad.

"We end up get a son together and in 1989 we get married. Him come from England, him stay with mi for a while until him go back. Mi even go England when one a him children a get married. Things were good and him tell mi say if anything fi happen to him, that piece of land that mi live on belong to mi and him show mi some weh belong to him other children, including the last child which mi and him have. When him deh a farrin, a mi even a pay the property tax on the land," she said. But tragedy struck unexpectedly when her husband passed away while he was overseas.

"Him send a money come give mi and say him a come home soon fi good and couple days after mi get a call from one of his children say him lay down and nah move and the next call mi get is say him dead. Dem bury him and mi never get fi go funeral," she said. Two years after his death, the woman said a 'for sale' sign was placed on her property.

"Earlier this month, two a di children come and say mi must come off the property because a nuh fi mi it. After that mi get a document say the land sell behind mi back, the land weh mi husband give mi and mi live pon fi 40 years. That land is mines and mi need to know what to do. Mi have every document here and mi contact a lawyer, but all a dis a stress mi out," she said.

Attorney-at-law Odane Marston said providing that the husband did not execute his last will and statement, then the woman is entitled to 50 per cent interest in the property pursuant to the Intestate Estate and Property Charges Act.

"The children, too, also have 50 per cent interest in the property, and as such have no greater right than the widow, if the property was unregistered and the estate was not administered prior to the sale of the property, which is a separate issue. The problem that this widow now faces is if the property was sold to a bona fide purchaser for value without notice of her interest, then the sale is final," he said.

"If that is so, then, she can commence a claim against the estate, namely, the children, for her 50 per cent share from the proceeds of the sale," Marston added.