Policy Brief: Breaking the Cycle of Inherited Poverty Through Human Dignity and Advocacy-ILAPI

Families lose billions in economic potential every year – not only through failed enterprises or bad harvests, but also through locked vaults: bank accounts, pension funds, and insurance benefits belonging to deceased breadwinners that remain inaccessible to their rightful beneficiaries and surviving families.

The Institute for Liberty and Policy Innovation’s Next of Kin Project, launched in 2023, exposed a largely invisible driver of family poverty: the institutional barriers that prevent bereaved families and beneficiaries from accessing assets that is legally theirs.

Between 2016 and 2024, over GH₵167.8 million, US$14.6 million, GBP 2.4 million, and EUR 2.3 million in dormant funds were transferred to the Bank of Ghana. More than 1.4 million accounts were transferred between 2021 and July 2024 alone.

These figures represent more than inactive accounts; they represent families who may have lost access to savings, pensions, and financial security at the very moment they need them most.

This brief introduces the concept of inheritance poverty: a form of deprivation that occurs when individuals and families are legally entitled to financial assets but are unable to access them because of administrative, legal, and informational barriers.

Ending inheritance poverty is not merely a technical reform challenge. It is a question of human dignity, property rights, and economic freedom.

When institutions create unnecessary barriers that prevent families from accessing the assets of deceased relatives, they do more than delay transactions.

They restrict economic agency, deepen financial vulnerability, and undermine the principle that citizens should be treated as rights-holders rather than administrative burdens.

ILAPI argues that poverty reduction must include removing institutional barriers that prevent families from accessing resources they already own.

The solution does not lie primarily in creating new welfare programmes, but in reforming systems, reducing red tape, improving transparency, and ensuring that legal and financial institutions serve citizens proactively.

KEY FINDINGS FROM ILAPI RESEARCH

1. Introduction: ILAPI and the Next of Kin Project

The Institute for Liberty and Policy Innovation (ILAPI) is a Ghanaian policy think tank headquartered in Tema, committed to advancing free enterprise, reducing unnecessary regulatory red tape, strengthening property rights, and expanding economic freedom as the foundation for human capital development.

Under the leadership of its Executive Director, Peter Bismark Kwofie, ILAPI has established itself as one of Ghana’s leading voices on economic freedom, institutional reform, financial inclusion, and poverty reduction.

In 2023, ILAPI launched its flagship Next of Kin (NoK) Project — a sustained research, advocacy, and policy reform initiative focused on one of Ghana’s most overlooked sources of intergenerational poverty: the inability of families to access the funds, savings, pensions, and insurance benefits of deceased breadwinners.

The project’s overarching premise is simple but profound: poverty reduction in Ghana must include removing the barriers that actively push grieving, vulnerable families into destitution.

ILAPI’s nationwide quantitative study, conducted between February and July 2023, surveyed 1,000 respondents across all 16 regions of Ghana.

The findings revealed a significant gap between legal entitlement and practical access. While families may have legitimate claims to financial assets, the process of proving entitlement and obtaining those assets remains difficult for many ordinary citizens.

The study found that 85.5% of respondents had no written will. Among those who had attempted to access funds belonging to deceased relatives, more than 95% described the process as cumbersome, while 70% abandoned their claims altogether — not because they gave up hope, but because the administrative barriers were too steep to surmount.

The consequences are not merely administrative. When families cannot access savings and benefits left behind by deceased relatives, children’s education may be disrupted, widows and dependents may experience financial insecurity, and households already facing hardship may be pushed deeper into poverty.

On 27 November 2023, ILAPI convened a High-Level Policy Dialogue in Accra on “Unlocking the Funds of Beneficiaries and Next of Kin to Improve Human Dignity.”

The dialogue brought together representatives from the Attorney General’s Office, SSNIT, the Bank of Ghana, traditional authorities, civil society organisations, and Parliament, including Hon. Francis Xavier Sosu, Member of Parliament for Madina.

The dialogue reached a broad consensus: Ghana’s current framework for next of kin and beneficiary access is fragmented, difficult to navigate, and requires comprehensive reform.

The challenge is not simply about administrative efficiency. It concerns whether institutions designed to protect citizens’ economic interests are fulfilling that responsibility.

2. The Problem: What Is Inheritance Poverty?

2.1 Defining Inheritance Poverty

ILAPI introduces the concept of inheritance poverty to describe a specific form of deprivation that occurs when families are legally entitled to financial assets—such as bank deposits, pension contributions, insurance benefits, and other accumulated resources—but are unable to access them because of administrative, legal, institutional, or informational barriers.

Unlike traditional forms of poverty, which are often associated with insufficient income, lack of employment opportunities, or limited productive assets, inheritance poverty emerges from a gap between ownership and access.

The assets exist. The legal entitlement exists. Yet families remain unable to benefit from resources that should provide financial security during one of the most vulnerable periods of their lives.

Inheritance poverty reveals an important but overlooked reality: poverty can be created not only by the absence of resources, but also by systems that prevent people from accessing resources that already belong to them.

When a breadwinner dies, families experience an immediate economic shock through the loss of income and financial support.

But for many households, a second shock follows—the discovery that the savings, pension contributions, insurance benefits, or other financial assets accumulated by the deceased are trapped behind complex procedures, unclear requirements, and institutional barriers.

For a family that has lost its primary source of income, the process of recovering these assets can become an additional burden.

They may be required to obtain death certificates, secure probate documentation, navigate court procedures, provide affidavits, engage legal assistance and representation, and satisfy different documentation requirements across multiple institutions.

For many ordinary families, especially those already facing financial hardship, these requirements are not simply procedural steps. They represent significant financial, emotional, and administrative obstacles that can make recovery practically impossible.

THE RESULT IS A CYCLE OF DEPRIVATION:

Breadwinner dies → Family loses income → Family attempts to claim funds from bank/SSNIT/insurance → Process is long, costly, and confusing → 70% abandon claims → Funds transferred to Bank of Ghana as dormant → Family falls deeper into poverty → Children drop out of school → Cycle repeats into the next generation.

2.2 The Scale of Locked-Up Funds

The scale of inheritance poverty in Ghana is significant.

Following a formal petition by ILAPI, the Bank of Ghana disclosed that between 2016 and 2023, dormant accounts held the equivalent of more than GH₵167.8 million, USD 14.6 million, GBP 2.4 million, and EUR 2.3 million.

Between January 2021 and July 2024, 1,448,660 dormant accounts were transferred to the Bank of Ghana under Section 92 of the Banks and Specialized Deposit-taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930).

Under existing regulations, accounts that remain inactive for five years are classified as dormant and transferred to the Bank of Ghana. If families do not claim them, they are absorbed into state funds — a situation ILAPI deems an assault on private property rights.

While this mechanism provides regulatory oversight of inactive funds, ILAPI’s concern is that the system does not sufficiently prioritise the identification and empowerment of rightful beneficiaries.

Dormant accounts are not merely financial records. Behind many of these accounts are individuals and families who may have lost access to resources intended for education, healthcare, household stability, retirement security, and economic advancement.

The challenge extends beyond commercial banks. The situation involving pension funds and insurance benefits requires equally urgent attention.

Unlike dormant bank accounts transferred to the Bank of Ghana, unclaimed pension and insurance benefits may remain within institutions for extended periods without systematic mechanisms to identify and notify beneficiaries.

Families of deceased workers who contributed to pension schemes for decades may be unaware that these resources exist. Even when they are aware, they may struggle to navigate the procedures required to access them.

The issue is therefore not simply the existence of dormant funds. It is the absence of systems designed to ensure that rightful owners and beneficiaries are actively connected to assets that belong to them.

2.3 Why Do Families Fail to Claim What Is Theirs?

ILAPI’s research identifies several interconnected barriers that prevent families from accessing inherited financial assets:

Information Barriers

The first challenge is information poverty. Many families are unaware of the financial accounts, pension contributions, insurance policies, or other assets held by deceased relatives.

In many cases, financial institutions possess information that could assist beneficiaries, but there is limited proactive engagement to identify and notify next of kin.

Families are therefore required to initiate a process without knowing whether assets exist, where they are held, or what procedures apply.

Cultural Barriers

A second barrier relates to cultural attitudes surrounding disclosure of next of kin. ILAPI’s research found that some individuals deliberately avoid formally identifying beneficiaries because of fears that disclosing a next of kin may create incentives for premature claims or even hasten death.

Although these beliefs may vary across communities, they contribute to low rates of beneficiary designation and increase uncertainty when death occurs.

Administrative and Legal Barriers

The third barrier is the complexity of the claims process. For many families, accessing deceased relatives’ assets requires navigating multiple institutions, each with different requirements and procedures.

The Births and Deaths Registry may be the first point of contact for obtaining death documentation, followed by interactions with courts, financial institutions, pension administrators, and insurance companies.

The relevant legal framework—including the Administration of Estates Act, the Wills Act, the Intestate Succession Act, the Banks and Specialized Deposit-taking Institutions Act (Act 930), and the Insurance Act—creates a fragmented system that ordinary citizens often struggle to understand.

Where legal assistance is required, costs can consume a significant portion of recovered assets. For low-income households, the cost of accessing their own property may become greater than the perceived benefit of pursuing the claim.

This is the central injustice at the heart of inheritance poverty: families are not seeking assistance or charity. They are seeking access to assets that are already legally theirs.

3. Why Poverty Reduction Must Be Grounded in Human Dignity

3.1 The Dignity Deficit in Ghana’s Anti-Poverty Discourse

Ghana’s poverty reduction efforts have traditionally focused on important economic indicators: GDP growth, income levels, employment, poverty rates, and measures of multidimensional deprivation.

These indicators remain essential for understanding national progress. However, they do not always capture the lived experience of poverty, the frustration, vulnerability, and loss of agency experienced by individuals when institutions fail to respond to their needs.

ILAPI’s Next of Kin Project argues that poverty reduction must also address the institutional conditions that determine whether citizens can exercise control over their own economic lives.

Inheritance poverty illustrates this challenge clearly. A widow attempting to access her deceased husband’s savings for her children’s education is not merely encountering an administrative inconvenience.

She is confronting a system that may require multiple documents, repeated visits to institutions, legal procedures, and financial costs before she can access resources that were intended to support her family.

The issue is not only whether funds exist. The issue is whether citizens can meaningfully exercise their rights over those funds.

Human dignity—the principle that every person possesses inherent worth and should be treated with respect—provides an important foundation for understanding this challenge.

Institutions that serve citizens must be designed around the realities of human lives, particularly during moments of vulnerability such as bereavement.

A system that forces grieving families to overcome unnecessary barriers before accessing legally recognised assets risks treating people as administrative cases rather than as individuals with rights and legitimate claims.

ILAPI’s position is that these barriers are not merely technical inefficiencies. They are policy outcomes that produce predictable consequences. When administrative systems prevent families from accessing resources they already own, the result is not simply delay—it is economic harm.

The case for reform is therefore both economic and moral. Removing barriers to beneficiary access is not only about improving efficiency within financial institutions; it is about restoring citizens’ ability to exercise their property rights and secure their families’ economic future.

3.2 Dignity, Rights, and the Moral Foundations of Anti-Poverty Policy

The 1992 Constitution of Ghana recognises fundamental rights, including the protection of property and equal treatment under the law.

These principles provide an important foundation for understanding the inheritance poverty challenge. Families attempting to access deceased relatives’ assets are not seeking government assistance.

They are not requesting charitable support. They are seeking access to property and financial resources to which they have a lawful claim.

A rights-based approach to poverty reduction recognises that citizens are not merely beneficiaries of state programmes; they are holders of rights whose economic freedoms must be protected.

Where institutions create unnecessary obstacles that prevent individuals from exercising those rights, reform becomes a matter of institutional responsibility.

This perspective changes how inheritance poverty should be understood. The question is not simply:

How can government provide more assistance to families experiencing financial hardship?

The deeper question is:

Why are families being prevented from accessing resources that already belong to them?

A human dignity framework also changes the urgency of reform. If inheritance poverty is viewed only as an administrative challenge, delays may appear to be a matter of capacity, resources, or institutional convenience. But if it is understood as a barrier to the exercise of basic economic rights, the need for action becomes more immediate.

Every delayed claim represents a family waiting for access to resources that may determine whether children remain in school, whether households can meet basic needs, or whether economic hardship deepens following the loss of a breadwinner.

These are not abstract policy outcomes. They are consequences experienced by real families.

3.3 ILAPI’s Dignity-centered Philosophy of Reform

ILAPI’s approach to the Next of Kin Project is grounded in a distinctive libertarian dignity-centered philosophy that combines a deep commitment to individual rights and free enterprise with a robust critique of bureaucratic overreach and state-manufactured poverty.

From ILAPI’s perspective, the role of the state is not primarily to replace individual initiative through expanding intervention, but to create institutions that allow citizens to exercise their rights, participate freely in economic life, and benefit from the resources they have earned or inherited.

The reform agenda proposed by ILAPI is therefore both principled and practical. It is principled because it begins with the recognition that individuals have rights over their property and economic resources.

It is practical because it focuses on achievable institutional improvements: simpler procedures, better information systems, digital integration, greater transparency, and stronger accountability.

ILAPI does not argue that government has no role in poverty reduction. Rather, it argues that government must first ensure that its own systems do not create unnecessary obstacles that deepen poverty.

The Next of Kin Project contributes to a wider global discussion about the relationship between economic freedom, institutional quality, and human development.

Strong property rights, accessible legal systems, and effective institutions are not merely features of prosperous economies; they are foundations that enable individuals and families to improve their own circumstances.

Ghana’s inheritance poverty challenge demonstrates what happens when these foundations are weakened.

When citizens cannot easily access resources that belong to them, economic opportunity is constrained—not because resources are absent, but because institutions have failed to connect people with what is already theirs.

4. ILAPI’s Policy Recommendations

Addressing inheritance poverty requires more than public awareness. It requires institutional reform that reduces unnecessary barriers, improves transparency, and ensures that families can access assets to which they are legally entitled.

ILAPI proposes a comprehensive reform agenda built around four pillars:

1.         Legal and regulatory reform

2.         Digital transformation of the claims process

3.         Public education and cultural change

4.         Institutional accountability and transparency

Together, these reforms would create a beneficiary access system that is simpler, faster, more transparent, and centred on citizens’ rights and dignity.

4.1 Legal and Regulatory Reform

Ghana’s current framework governing next of kin and beneficiary access is fragmented across multiple laws and institutions.

The Administration of Estates Act, the Wills Act, the Intestate Succession Act, the Banks and Specialized Deposit-taking Institutions Act (Act 930), and the Insurance Act each address different aspects of inheritance and financial claims.

However, in practice, families often encounter overlapping requirements, inconsistent procedures, and unclear pathways for accessing assets belonging to deceased relatives.

ILAPI recommends the development of a comprehensive Next of Kin and Beneficiary Access Act to establish a unified legal framework applicable across banks, insurance companies, pension administrators, and other financial institutions. The proposed reforms should include:

• Standardised claims requirements: The government should establish a single, harmonised set of documentation requirements for beneficiary claims.
• Families should not be required to navigate different procedures and standards depending on whether the claim involves a bank account, pension benefit, or insurance payout.
• Mandatory beneficiary notification: Financial institutions, insurance companies, and pension administrators should be required to proactively notify known next of kin and beneficiaries when accounts become dormant or when institutions receive information indicating the death of an account holder.
• Such notification should occur within a defined period, such as 30 days, using available national identification systems, including Ghana Card information.
• Public dormant accounts register: The Bank of Ghana should establish and publish an annual public register of dormant accounts and unclaimed funds, allowing citizens to verify whether they may have claims to funds held by financial institutions.
• Transparency is essential because families cannot claim assets they do not know exist.
• Protection of unclaimed funds: Dormant funds should not become effectively inaccessible through indefinite administrative processes.
• ILAPI recommends establishing a defined framework for managing unclaimed funds, including the creation of a dedicated Next of Kin Claims Fund rather than allowing unclaimed assets to disappear into general government revenue.
• The purpose of such a mechanism should be to preserve citizens’ property rights while ensuring that legitimate beneficiaries retain meaningful access to their assets.
• Accessible dispute resolution mechanism: The government should establish a fast-track administrative process through which beneficiaries can resolve contested claims without depending entirely on expensive and lengthy court procedures.
• A specialised tribunal or administrative claims mechanism would reduce delays, lower costs, and make justice more accessible to ordinary citizens.

4.2 Digital Transformation of the Claims Process

Ghana has invested significantly in digital public infrastructure, including the Ghana Card, national identification systems, the Births and Deaths Registry, and GhanaPostGPS.

These systems provide an opportunity to transform beneficiary access from a reactive process—where grieving families must search for information—to a proactive system where institutions can identify and support rightful beneficiaries. ILAPI recommends:

• Integration of Ghana Card information into financial systems: All regulated financial institutions should integrate Ghana Card identification into account opening and customer verification processes.
• Where individuals designate next of kin or beneficiaries, relevant identification details should be securely recorded and linked to national systems.
• Establishment of a National Beneficiary Claims Portal: The government should develop a single digital platform through which citizens can verify whether deceased relatives have financial assets, submit beneficiary claims, upload required documentation, track the progress of applications, and receive updates from relevant institutions.
• A unified platform would eliminate unnecessary duplication and reduce the burden placed on grieving families.
• Automated verification of deaths and financial records: The Births and Deaths Registry should be digitally connected with relevant financial institutions to enable secure verification of deceased account holders.
• Such integration would allow institutions to notify beneficiaries proactively rather than waiting for families to begin the process.
• Accessible legal support: A national Legal Assistance for Inheritance Claims service should be created to provide free guidance to citizens navigating beneficiary claims.
• The service should include online support, trained paralegals, and USSD access for citizens without smartphones or reliable internet connectivity.

4.3 Public Education and Cultural Change

Institutional reform alone will not solve inheritance poverty. Many barriers identified by ILAPI’s research are rooted in limited public awareness and cultural practices surrounding wills, beneficiaries, and financial planning.

A national education campaign should therefore accompany legal and digital reforms. ILAPI recommends:

• National awareness campaign: The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), in partnership with ILAPI, financial institutions, faith communities, and traditional authorities, should lead a sustained public campaign on:
• the importance of writing wills;
• the purpose of naming next of kin;
• procedures for accessing deceased relatives’ assets;
• citizens’ rights regarding inherited financial resources.
• Financial literacy education: Information on wills, beneficiary designation, inheritance planning, and financial rights should be incorporated into financial literacy programmes, secondary school curricula, and adult education initiatives.
• Building awareness before death occurs is essential to reducing future disputes and delays.
• Addressing cultural misconceptions: Public education should address misconceptions that discourage individuals from naming beneficiaries or disclosing financial information to trusted family members.
• The objective is not to dismiss cultural beliefs, but to provide accurate information that enables families to make informed decisions about protecting their economic future.

4.4 Institutional Accountability and Transparency

ILAPI’s research indicates that transparency gaps remain a significant challenge in the management of dormant accounts and unclaimed funds.

Citizens cannot effectively exercise their rights when information about assets held on their behalf remains inaccessible. ILAPI recommends:

• Mandatory dormant accounts reporting: The Bank of Ghana should include a dedicated Dormant Accounts and Unclaimed Funds Report in its annual publications.

This report should disclose:

1. the number of dormant accounts received;
2. total value of funds held;
3. amounts returned to beneficiaries;
4. outstanding claims;
5. funds transferred or otherwise
   • • Parliamentary oversight: Parliament, through the relevant committees, should establish regular oversight mechanisms to review the management of dormant accounts and beneficiary access systems.
     • Oversight should ensure that institutions comply with notification obligations and maintain procedures that protect citizens’ property rights.

• Institutional compliance audits: Banks, insurance companies, and pension administrators should undergo periodic audits of their next of kin and beneficiary policies.Institutions that fail to comply with notification obligations or create unnecessary barriers to legitimate claims should face appropriate regulatory consequences.

5. Advancing the Conversation: The Human Dignity and Inheritance Poverty Journal

ILAPI recognises that lasting policy reform requires more than advocacy. It requires sustained research, public dialogue, and the continuous generation of evidence to inform policymaking.

To support this objective, the Institute established the Human Dignity and Inheritance Poverty Journal, a peer-reviewed publication dedicated to advancing scholarship on inheritance poverty, beneficiary rights, property rights, institutional reform, and the relationship between economic freedom and human dignity.

The Journal serves as a platform for rigorous, policy-oriented research that brings together academics, policymakers, legal practitioners, financial institutions, civil society organisations, and development professionals to examine the institutional barriers that prevent families from accessing assets to which they are legally entitled.

By encouraging interdisciplinary scholarship, ILAPI seeks to position inheritance poverty as a recognised field of policy inquiry within Ghana and across Africa.

As part of this broader knowledge agenda, ILAPI launched the Next of Kin Essay Competition in February 2026 to encourage young Ghanaians to contribute fresh ideas to the national conversation on beneficiary access and institutional reform.

Open to Ghanaians between the ages of 18 and 45, the competition invites original policy essays examining issues such as the role of financial institutions in reducing inheritance poverty, legal and administrative barriers to beneficiary claims, and opportunities for digital innovation.

The competition reflects ILAPI’s belief that effective public policy is strengthened when citizens are active participants in shaping reform.

It recognises that practical solutions often emerge not only from established institutions but also from students, professionals, researchers, entrepreneurs, and community leaders whose lived experiences provide valuable insight into the challenges facing ordinary families.

The top ten essays will be published in the Human Dignity and Inheritance Poverty Journal, creating an enduring body of Ghanaian scholarship on beneficiary rights and inheritance poverty.

Cash prizes, certificates, and publication opportunities are intended not only to recognise excellence but also to encourage continued research on an issue that has received limited scholarly and policy attention.

Through the Journal, the essay competition, and the broader Next of Kin Project, ILAPI is building more than a policy campaign.

It is fostering a national community of researchers, practitioners, and reform advocates committed to ensuring that no Ghanaian family is pushed into poverty simply because it cannot access assets that are already rightfully theirs.

6. Conclusion: Ending Inheritance Poverty as a Moral & Policy Imperative

Ghana has made important progress in reducing poverty and expanding financial inclusion.

Yet ILAPI’s Next of Kin Project has revealed a largely overlooked reality: some of the country’s most preventable poverty is created not by a lack of resources, but by barriers that prevent families from accessing resources they already own.

Inheritance poverty exposes a fundamental weakness in the relationship between citizens and public institutions.

Every year, grieving families encounter legal complexity, fragmented administrative procedures, and limited access to information while attempting to claim savings, pensions, insurance benefits, and other financial assets left behind by deceased relatives.

For many, these barriers transform bereavement into prolonged financial insecurity.

The consequences extend well beyond delayed claims. When families cannot access lawfully owned assets, children may leave school, businesses may collapse, medical care may be postponed, and households that were previously financially stable may fall into poverty.

These outcomes are not inevitable consequences of death. They are the predictable consequences of systems that fail to connect people with resources that are already theirs.

This is why ILAPI argues that inheritance poverty should be recognised as both a development challenge and a human dignity issue.

A society that respects human dignity must also respect the ability of individuals to exercise their property rights without unnecessary institutional barriers.

Families seeking access to inherited assets are not asking the state for charity. They are asserting rights that already exist.

Public institutions therefore have a corresponding responsibility to ensure that those rights can be exercised fairly, efficiently, and transparently.

The reforms proposed in this policy brief offer a practical roadmap for change. A harmonised legal framework, proactive beneficiary notification, digital integration, greater institutional transparency, and accessible claims procedures would significantly reduce the barriers that currently prevent families from obtaining what is rightfully theirs.

These reforms require commitment and institutional leadership more than substantial new public expenditure.

Ultimately, the challenge before Ghana is not whether the country possesses the legal authority, technological capacity, or institutional knowledge to address inheritance poverty. It does.

The question is whether there is sufficient political will to place citizens at the centre of institutional reform.

Poverty reduction cannot be measured only by the creation of new opportunities. It must also be measured by the removal of unnecessary barriers that deny people access to opportunities and resources they already possess.

For too many Ghanaian families, the greatest obstacle to economic security is not the absence of wealth, but the inability to claim it. Ending inheritance poverty will therefore require more than administrative reform.

It will require a renewed commitment to property rights, institutional accountability, economic freedom, and the inherent dignity of every citizen.

Ghana can build a system in which the death of a loved one does not become the beginning of avoidable financial hardship. The reforms are achievable. The evidence is compelling. The need is urgent. The time to act is now.

By: Frank Afful (Policy & Legal Analyst)-ILAPI