[2007] KEHC 1850 (KLR)
The court found that the proceedings to obtain the grant were defective in substance and that the grant was obtained fraudulently by concealment of material facts, specifically the inclusion of a stranger, Raphael Mukangai, as a son of the deceased. The administratrix admitted she was not literate and had been...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2007] KEHC 1850 (KLR)
- Parties
- Respondent: Fronicah Cheng’olo; Applicant: Rasto Cheng’oli; Respondent: Raphael Mukangai
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Kakamega
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Miscellaneous Succession Cause 412 of 1998
- Procedural Posture
- Succession Cause / Ruling on Summons for Revocation of Grant
- Outcome
- application allowed; grant and confirmed grant revoked and annulled
- Legal Topics
- Revocation of Grant, Fraudulent Concealment, Estate Administration, Inclusion of Stranger as Heir
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
Fronicah Cheng’olo
Respondent
Rasto Cheng’oli
Applicant
Raphael Mukangai
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Succession Cause / Ruling on Summons for Revocation of Grant
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the grant of letters of administration and the confirmed grant should be revoked due to inclusion of a stranger as an heir.
- 2 Whether the proceedings to obtain the grant were defective in substance or obtained fraudulently by concealment of material facts.
- 3 Whether the grant was confirmed hastily without proper court direction.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the proceedings to obtain the grant were defective in substance and that the grant was obtained fraudulently by concealment of material facts, specifically the inclusion of a stranger, Raphael Mukangai, as a son of the deceased. The administratrix admitted she was not literate and had been misled into including non-lineal descendants as heirs. The grant was also confirmed hastily within less than a month without proper court direction. These factors justified the revocation and annulment of both the original and confirmed grants. The court allowed the application and made orders in terms of the prayers sought by the applicant.
Court Disposition
application allowed; grant and confirmed grant revoked and annulled
Orders
- The grant of letters of administration intestate made on 15/4/1999 is annulled and revoked.
- The certificate of confirmed grant dated 27/4/1999 is annulled and revoked.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
15 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT KAKAMEGA Succession Cause 412 of 1998
IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF CHENG’OLI CHIKAMAYI (DECEASED)
BETWEEN
FRONICAH CHENG’OLO…...….…..PETITIONER/RESPONDENT
VERSUS
RASTO CHENG’OLI……….…………….OBJECTORAPPLICANT
AND
RAPHAEL MUKANGAI..INTERESTED PARTY/RESPONDENT
RULING
The Objector, RASTO CHENG’OLI, sought orders in his summons dated 27-3-2006 for revocation of the Grant of Letters of Administration Intestate made on 15-4-1999 to Fronica Cheng’oliin the estate of Cheng’oli Chikamayi,deceased, and the certificate of confirmed grant dated 27. 4.1999. The main ground for the application was that a stranger was included as an heir in the said estate namely Raphael Mukangai, while the rightful heirs whose names were not spelt out were excluded. The Grant was confirmed on 27th April 1999. The summons for revocation of the Grant and the Confirmed Grant was instituted on 28. 3.2006. The Objector avers in his affidavit sworn on 27/3/2006 in support of the summons for the revocation of the Grant that the Petitioner and Administratrix of the estate was his mother Fronica Chengoli. The Objector has not made as much as a whimper regarding the considerable delay of more than 8 years. I would have been disinclined to entertain the application but for the affidavit of the administratrix who has confirmed that she is not literate and was hoodwinked into including as heirs names of persons other than the deceased’s lineal descendants. In particular, Raphael Mukangai who was not a son of the deceased was included as a son of the deceased in the affidavit sworn on 27/4/99 by the Petitioner. The affidavit told a lie and a stranger infiltrated the cause and took away a share of the estate which should have gone to the lineal descendants of the deceased.
It is my finding that the proceedings to obtain the grant were defective in substance and it is also my finding that the grant was obtained fraudulently by concealment of something material to the cause. It is also my finding that the grant was confirmed hastily within a period of less than one month without direction of the court. For these reasons I allow the application and annul and revoke the grant made on 15/4/1999 and confirmed on 27/4/99. I make orders in terms of prayers (a) and (b) of the application. It is so ordered.
Dated, delivered and signed at Kakamega this 8th day of November, 2007.
G. B. M. KARIUKI
J U D G E