[2021] KEHC 4574 (KLR)
The court found that the applicant, Juliet Awinja Nura, had actively participated in the succession proceedings under the name Julia Mura, including filing affidavits and witness statements. The court determined that the issue raised was not about the substance of the estate distribution but about the correct...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2021] KEHC 4574 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: Juliet Awinja Nura; Respondent: Julia Mura
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Kakamega
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Succession Cause 263 of 2002
- Procedural Posture
- Succession Cause / Ruling on Application for Rectification of Name in Succession Proceedings
- Outcome
- application for rectification of name allowed
- Judges
- DN Musyoka
- Legal Topics
- Rectification of Grant, Misdescription of Beneficiary, Identity in Succession, Confirmation of Grant
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
Juliet Awinja Nura
Applicant
Julia Mura
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Succession Cause / Ruling on Application for Rectification of Name in Succession Proceedings
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the applicant was misrepresented in the succession proceedings by use of the name Julia Mura instead of Juliet Awinja Nura.
- 2 Whether the estate was properly devolved to the applicant despite the use of the incorrect name.
- 3 Whether rectification of the grant and certificate of confirmation is appropriate to reflect the applicant's correct name.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the applicant, Juliet Awinja Nura, had actively participated in the succession proceedings under the name Julia Mura, including filing affidavits and witness statements. The court determined that the issue raised was not about the substance of the estate distribution but about the correct identification of the applicant. Since the property devolved to Julia Mura was intended for the applicant, and to avoid future confusion or prejudice, the court ordered rectification of the relevant documents to reflect the applicant's correct name as per her national identity card. The court relied on the statutory power to rectify grants to correct errors in names or descriptions...
Court Disposition
application for rectification of name allowed
Orders
- The grant of letters of administration intestate issued on 24th March 2010 shall be amended to substitute the name Julia Mura with Juliet Awinja Nura.
- The certificate of confirmation of grant dated 15th June 2011 shall be amended to substitute the name Julia Mura with Juliet Awinja Nura.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
12 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT KAKAMEGA
SUCCESSION CAUSE NO. 263 OF 2002
IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF BARASA KANENJE MANYA (DECEASED)
RULING
1. In the application dated 26th October 2020, Juliet Awinja Nura, the applicant, complains that the other parties had misrepresented to the court that her name was Julia Mura, and proceeded to distribute the estate to the said Julia Mura, and that she stood to be disinherited. The other parties have argued that Julia Mura was the name the applicant went by in the community, and that the property devolved upon Julia Mura was in fact a devolution to her.
2. I note that the applicant has not complained substantively about the manner the estate has been distributed, and appears to be more worried about the use of the name Julia Mura, rather than Juliet Awinja Nura. I find it surprising that she is raising the issue now, given that she has actively participated in the matter without raising the issue. She filed affidavits in response to various applications, where Julia Mura was named as a respondent, such as those sworn on 15th July 2019, 24th September 2019, and 20th November 2019. She had also executed a witness statement, which was filed herein on 8th July 2019. I wonder the basis on which she was executing and filing these documents if she was not the party named in the proceedings.
3. The way out I believe should be to order amendment or rectification of the documents where her name appears as Julia Mura, and the substitution of that name with the name which appears in her national identity card, that is to say Juliet Awinja Mura. The documents to be amended or rectified are the grant of letters of administration intestate issued on 24th March 2010 and the certificate of confirmation of grant dated 15th June 2011.
4. It is so ordered.
DELIVERED, DATED AND SIGNED IN OPEN COURT AT KAKAMEGA THIS 6TH DAY OF AUGUST 2021
W. MUSYOKA
JUDGE