Lawyer and family life counsellor, Kweku Yamoah Paintsil, says women who still want to keep their ex-husband’s name after divorce can go to court and buy the name.
Answering a question by a listener on a series dubbed “Your Marriage and the Law“ Joy FM’s Home Affairs show, he said he sees no point in keeping an ex-spouse’s name after divorcing the person.
He, however, explained that if it’s for the sake of a brand that a woman decides to keep her ex-husband’s name then she can actually buy the name because the law permits that.
Mr Paintsil cited the case of famous American-born singer, Tina Turner who divorced her husband but had to buy his name because she’s built a brand with his name.
“If you are making money out of the name, I don’t see why you should keep it to yourself,” the family life counsellor added.
Mr Paintsil who also doubles as a pastor mentioned that if for any reason a man feels uncomfortable about his ex-wife still using his name, he can actually go to court to demand that the woman stops using his name.
“There’s a common law remedy. Go to court and seek an order to take your name off her. If you have a good case, the judge should be able to grant your request”, Lawyer Paintsil explained
“If you have my name and you divorce me, you have to give me back my name. It’s only fair”, the lawyer said humorously.
He advised women to let people know that they’ve moved on after getting a divorce by swearing an affidavit to get back their maiden names.
Home Affairs airs every Saturday from 6:15 am to 7:30 am.