[2013] KEHC 3590 (KLR)
The court held that the applicants, being neither surviving spouses, children, parents, nor siblings of the deceased, did not fall within the classes of persons entitled to inherit under Section 39 of the Law of Succession Act. The administrator, as the mother of the deceased, was the next in line for inheritance...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2013] KEHC 3590 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: Teresia Wambui Njau; Respondent: Sister-in-law and step mother-in-law of the deceased (names not specified)
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Law Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Succession Cause 246 of 2006
- Procedural Posture
- Succession Cause / Ruling on Application to Revoke Grant
- Outcome
- application dismissed with costs
- Judges
- DN Musyoka
- Legal Topics
- Intestate Succession, Priority of Beneficiaries, Grant of Letters of Administration
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
Teresia Wambui Njau
Applicant
Sister-in-law and step mother-in-law of the deceased (names not specified)
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Succession Cause / Ruling on Application to Revoke Grant
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the applicants, as sister-in-law and step mother-in-law of the deceased, are entitled to a share of the estate of Lucy Njeri Ng'ang'a under Kenyan succession law.
- 2 Whether the administrator was required to disclose or obtain consent from the applicants in the petition for grant of letters of administration.
- 3 Whether the grant was obtained illegally due to alleged non-disclosure of the applicants.
Ratio Decidendi
The court held that the applicants, being neither surviving spouses, children, parents, nor siblings of the deceased, did not fall within the classes of persons entitled to inherit under Section 39 of the Law of Succession Act. The administrator, as the mother of the deceased, was the next in line for inheritance and administration. There was no legal requirement to disclose or involve the applicants in the petition for grant, nor were they entitled to a share of the estate. The grant was not obtained illegally, and the application to revoke it lacked merit.
Court Disposition
application dismissed with costs
Orders
- The application dated 14th June 2012 is dismissed with costs.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
24 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
High Court at Nairobi (Nairobi Law Courts)
Succession Cause 246 of 2006 [if gte mso 9]><xml>
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IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF LUCY NJERI NG'ANG'A (DECEASED)
RULING
This cause relates to the estate of Lucy Njeri Ng'ang'a, who died on 19th November 2004. Representation to the estate was obtained by her mother, Teresia Wambui Njau. Her husband, Joseph Ng'ang'a, had predeceased her. They were not survived by any children.
The dispute in this matter resolves around the inheritance of Kiambaa/Ruaka/T. 411. It previously belonged to Joseph Ng'ang'a, and upon his demise it passed by transmission to his widow, Lucy Njeri Nga'ng'a, the deceased herein.
The applicants in the application dated 14th June 2012 are sister-in-law and step mother-in-law, respectively, of the deceased Lucy Njau Ng'ang'a. Then can is that they were entittled to a share in the estate of Lucy Njeri Ng'ang'a as they were the sister and step mother of the husband of the deceased woman. They assert that they had a right equal to that of the Teresia Wambui Njau. They allege that the administrator did not in her petition disclose then and therefore the grant has obtained illegally.
According to Section 66 of the Law of Succession Act, entittlement to a grant of letters is dependent on the provision of Part V of the Law of Seccesiion Act. Priority is given to the surviving spouse followed by the children, followed by the father of the deceased, followed by the mother of the deceased, followed by siblings, and followed by the relatives dependents on their closeness to the deceased based on the degree of consarguinity. in this case, Lucy Njeri Ng'ang'a was not servived served by a spouse or children nor a father. That being the case the next in line was the mother. The relevant provision in part V is Section 39 which provides:
''where an intestate has left no surviving spouse or children, the net intestate estate shall devolve upon the kindred of the intestate in the following orders of priority.
(a) Father, or if dead;
(b) Mother ; or if dead.
(c) Brothers and sister and any child or children of deceased brothers and sisters, in equal shares.....''
The applicant were not surviving spouses of the deceased, nor her children nor her parents. They were not her siblings either. Consequently, they did not rank in priority over the administrator nor were they of equal rank to her so far as entitlement not to the administration of the estate was concerned. There was no obligation to disclose them nor to obtain their consents nor to involve them in the petition for grant.Section 39 is equally clear that they were not entitled to a share in the estate of the deceased.
There is nothing on record to show that the administrator contravened the law governing the process of obtaining grant. There is also no material showing that the applicants ought to have been catered for in the distribution of the estate. In view of Section 39, the share that David Mwangi Muchiri got in the estate was purely gratuitous as he was not entitled to it.
I find no merit at all in the application dated 14th June 2012. It is hereby dismissed with costs.
Dated and delivered on this 10 TH day of May, 2013.
W. MUSYOKA
JUDGE
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