INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN MULTIDISCIPLINARY EDUCATION ISSN(print): 2833-4515, ISSN(online): 2833-4531 Volume 02 Issue 07 July 2023 DOI: 10.58806/ijirme.2023.v2i7n01 Page No. 272-282 IJIRME, Volume 2 Issue 07 July 2023 www.ijirme.com Page 272 Emotional Experiences of Contesting Parties of Probate of Will in Accra, Ghana Peter Worlanyo Abomah 1 , Daniel Bruce 2 , Adwoa Mensima Sey 3 1,2,3 Methodist University Ghana P.O. Box Dc 940 Dansoman Accra Ghana ABSTRACT: This study investigated the emotional experiences, psychological trauma and coping strategies of individuals contesting in probate of will. Employing a mixed-method sequential explanatory design, data was collected among sixty-two bereaved individuals at the Law Courts Complex (Probate Courts 1 and 3) in Accra, using a semi-structured questionnaire and an interview guide. Purposive and snowballing sampling techniques were employed to identify bereaved individuals who were going through the probate of will at the Probate Courts. The data was analysed using SPSS version 22 and thematic analysis for the in- depth interview. Descriptive statistics, correlation, Chi-Square statistics and thematic analysis were used to analyse the various objectives. The results revealed that 30.6% of the respondents were widows, 27.4% had lost their siblings, 22.6% of them had lost their fathers whiles 14.5% had lost the mothers. The least (4.8%) of the respondents had their wives dead. Also, 59.7% of the participants who were going through the probate of a will were highly educated, thus, had secondary education and 72.6% of them were Christians. The findings showed a strong positive correlation between emotional experiences of participants and their psychological trauma. Also, educational background and religious affiliation of the contestants were significantly associated with their emotional experiences. It is recommended that counselling sessions for bereaved individuals contesting for the probate of will should be enhanced to prevent mental health issues. KEYWORDS: Emotions: Emotion is defined as a complex reaction pattern, involving experiential, behavioural and physiological elements. They are how individuals handle matters or situations they find personally significant. Emotional Experiences: Emotional experience is a unit in a constant dialectic relationship between the representation of the outside world and how the world is experienced by a person. Emotional experience have three components: a subjective experience, a physiological response and a behavioural or expressive response. Contesting Parties: These are individuals involved in the defense against an adverse claim made in a court by a plaintiff or a prosecutor. To contest in law is to defend against an adverse claim made in a court by a plaintiff or a prosecutor. Will: A Will is a legal document by which the testator, expresses their desires as to how their property is to be distributed at death, and names one or more persons, the executor, to manage the estate until its final distribution. Probate of Will: This is the process of proving a Will is legal and thereafter administering the estate of a dead person in accordance with the terms of a Will. INTRODUCTION Contesting a will can be a very lengthy and expensive process fraught with bitterness, anger, acrimony, rancour, antagonism, heated exchanges which often ruin or in some extreme cases severs relationships between and among beneficiaries and disappointed hopefuls, thus, family relations and friends (Odoi, 2020; Simons, 2021). It can go a long way to build outrageous enmity between beneficiaries and disappointed survivors. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), becoming a widow has a sudden and powerful depressing effect on the mental health of the individual (American Psychological Association, 2003). The changes in depressed mood, general mental health and social functioning are of medium to large magnitude (Wilcox et al., 2003). Out of the 70,000 women that were interviewed in the United States of America (USA), 40% of them were going through some form of emotional stress and anxiety after the loss of their spouse and the battle of who gains access to the properties of the deceased (Wilcox et al., 2003). Another study also revealed that, the death of a spouse is one of the most distressing life events (Carr, 2020). According to Carr (2020), 70% of the widowed women were going through emotional trauma, anger, bitterness and depression due to the contention of their spouse’s estate and Will. In Cameroon, 40% of families who had lost the breadwinner of the family were going through stress and depression due to the probate of a Will in court (Rene, 2020). It was also revealed that there was some form of rivalry among siblings who were contesting the estate or properties of their deceased father (Rene, 2020). In Ghana, contesting parties of probate of a Will, especially among siblings and families, were always angry and bitter and wore a moody and gloomy face all the time (Odoi, 2019). Existing materials and laws have addressed the instances where a person dies without making