[2019] KEHC 11458 (KLR)
The court held that the purpose of a grant of letters of administration ad colligenda bona is strictly for the collection and preservation of the estate of the deceased and does not extend to instituting or continuing litigation on behalf of the deceased. The applicant's request to use such a grant to substitute the...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2019] KEHC 11458 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: Connecting Missions Services Africa; Respondent: Vicky Manjit Singh
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Law Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Succession Cause 1535 of 2013
- Procedural Posture
- Succession Cause / Ruling on Application for Grant of Letters of Administration Ad Colligenda Bona
- Outcome
- application dismissed
- Judges
- AO Muchelule
- Legal Topics
- Succession Procedure, Letters of Administration, Ad Colligenda Bona, Estate Preservation
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
Connecting Missions Services Africa
Applicant
Vicky Manjit Singh
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Succession Cause / Ruling on Application for Grant of Letters of Administration Ad Colligenda Bona
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the applicant is entitled to a grant of letters of administration ad colligenda bona for the purpose of substituting the deceased's legal representative in a pending suit.
- 2 Whether such a grant can be used to enable the applicant to recover property and damages through litigation.
Ratio Decidendi
The court held that the purpose of a grant of letters of administration ad colligenda bona is strictly for the collection and preservation of the estate of the deceased and does not extend to instituting or continuing litigation on behalf of the deceased. The applicant's request to use such a grant to substitute the deceased's legal representative in a pending suit and recover property and damages was therefore misconceived. The court relied on statutory provisions and case law, specifically Rule 36(2) of the Probate and Administration Rules and the decision in MORJARIA –vs- ABDALLA, to conclude that the relief sought was outside the scope of what the law permits under ad colligenda bona...
Court Disposition
application dismissed
Orders
- The application for grant of letters of administration ad colligenda bona is dismissed as misconceived.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
20 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT NAIROBI
MILIMANI LAW COURTS
FAMILY DIVISION
SUCCESSION CAUSE NO. 1535 OF 2013
IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF MANJIT SINGH - (DECEASED)
CONNECTING MISSIONS SERVICES AFRICA..APPLICANT
VERSUS
VICKY MANJIT SINGH........................................RESPONDENT
RULING
1. The deceased Manjit Singh t/a Waithaka Diesel Workshop was sued by Connecting Missions Services Africa (the applicant) in Nairobi CMCC No. 3531 of 2012 to recover motor vehicle registration number KAQ 063G make Land Rover. The applicant took the land rover for repairs at Waithaka Diesel Workshop. The vehicle was serviced and repaired but was not released. The suit had other prayers. With the suit was an application for summary judgment. Attempts to serve process proved futile. It was later discovered that Manjit Singh had died on 5th July 2012, and that his son Vicky Manjit Singh had taken over the Workshop. The said Vicky Manjit Singh had refused and/or failed to take out letters of administration in respect of his late father’s estate. The applicant brought this petition for the letters of administration ad colligenda bona. He asked that the grant issued be “limited for the purpose of progressing the suit to conclusion by substituting the deceased’s legal representative one Vicky Manjit Singh so that the plaintiff can recover its Land Rover registration number KAQ 063G and damages in the Plaint in Nairobi CMCC 3531 of 2012. ”
2. The application was not defended.
3. The application did not indicate the law under which it was being brought. It is, however, clear that applications for the grant of letters of administration ad colligenda bona are brought under Section 67 of the Law of Succession Act (Cap 160) and Rule 36 of the Probate and Administration Rules. Under Rule 36(2):-
“2. Every such grant shall be in Form 47 and be expressly limited for the purpose only of collecting and getting in and receiving the estate and doing such acts as may be necessary for the preservation of the estate and until a further grant is made.”
4. The application seeks to sue the respondent in place of his deceased’s father. It does not seek to collect and get into the estate to receive it to be able to preserve it. In the case of MORJARIA –vs- ABDALLA [1984]eKLR, it was held that:-
“… We do not think that the appointment of a person “ad colligenda bona” can possibly include the right to stand in the shoes of the deceased for the purpose of instituting an action, or, indeed, an appeal, especially where there is a specific provision, paragraph 14 of the Fifth Schedule, designed for this purpose …”
5. Consequently, I dismiss the application as it is misconceived.
DATED and DELIVERED at NAIROBI this 26TH DAY OF JUNE, 2019.
A.O. MUCHELULE
JUDGE