[2013] KEHC 6198 (KLR)
The court determined that the material facts regarding the status of the administrators as children of the deceased and their entitlement to the estate are disputed and cannot be adequately resolved on affidavit evidence alone. To ensure justice and a fair determination, the court directed that the application for...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2013] KEHC 6198 (KLR)
- Parties
- Respondent: Jackline Wangari Kamau; Respondent: Caroline Wanjiru Kamau; Applicant: __MISSING__
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Law Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Succession Cause 1154 of 2010
- Procedural Posture
- Succession Cause / Ruling on Application for Revocation of Grant; Directions for Oral Hearing
- Outcome
- Application for revocation of grant to be determined by oral hearing; directions issued.
- Judges
- DN Musyoka
- Legal Topics
- Revocation of Grant, Succession, Administration of Estates, Status of Beneficiaries
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
Jackline Wangari Kamau
Respondent
Caroline Wanjiru Kamau
Respondent
__MISSING__
Applicant
Procedural Posture
Succession Cause / Ruling on Application for Revocation of Grant; Directions for Oral Hearing
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the administrators are entitled to a share in the deceased's estate as his children.
- 2 Whether the administrators were minors and lived with the deceased after their mother married him.
- 3 Whether the application for revocation of grant can be determined on affidavit evidence alone.
Ratio Decidendi
The court determined that the material facts regarding the status of the administrators as children of the deceased and their entitlement to the estate are disputed and cannot be adequately resolved on affidavit evidence alone. To ensure justice and a fair determination, the court directed that the application for revocation of grant be disposed of by oral hearing, allowing for cross-examination of the deponents to clarify the contested facts.
Court Disposition
Application for revocation of grant to be determined by oral hearing; directions issued.
Orders
- The application for revocation of grant dated 21st May 2012 shall be disposed of by oral hearing.
- The matter to be fixed for hearing at the registry on a priority basis.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
12 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT MILIMANI
SUCCESSION CAUSE NO: 1154 OF 2010
IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF GEDRAPH KAMAU WAIYAKI (DECEASED)
RULING
The application that I am invited to determine is dated 21st May 2012. It seeks revocation of the grant made on 22nd December 2010 to Jackline Wangari Kamau and Caroline Wanjiru Kamau.
The applicants are the siblings of the deceased. Their case is that the administrators of the estate were not the biological children of the deceased. They concede that the administrators' mother was carefully married to the deceased, but at the time of the marriage the administrators were already married adults who were living with their husbands and families and they therefore did not live with the deceased. The position appears to be that the respondent administrators never lived with the deceased and they therefore did not become his children, and, consequently, they were not entitled to a share in his estate.
The respondents counter this by averring that they were still minors when their mother married the deceased. They say that they moved in with the deceased after the marriage, and lived with him continuously until he died.
The nature of the facts that I need to help me determine this matter can only come out effectively at on oral hearing. There are details that do not come out in affidavit evidence. I feel that I will not do justice in this case if I determine the summons for revocation dated 21st May 2012 on affidavit evidence only. The deponents of the affidavits must be subjected to cross- examination. Consequently, I direct that this application be disposed of by oral hearing on a date to be fixed at the registry on a priority basis.
DATED, SIGNED and DELIVERED AT NAIROBI THIS 27th DAY OF June 2013.
W.M. Musyoka
JUDGE