[2010] KEHC 3282 (KLR)
The court found that although there was another succession cause (No. 5 of 2004) gazetted in respect of the same estate, there was no evidence that a grant of letters of administration had been issued in that cause. The applicant failed to provide any such grant. Therefore, there were not two grants in existence,...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2010] KEHC 3282 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: Ireri Nyaga; Respondent: Karani Ngari
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Embu
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Succession Cause 68 of 2007
- Procedural Posture
- Succession Cause / Ruling on Summons for Revocation or Annulment of Grant
- Outcome
- application dismissed
- Judges
- J Karanja
- Legal Topics
- Revocation of Grant, Letters of Administration, Non Disclosure, Proprietory Interest, Succession Proceedings
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
Ireri Nyaga
Applicant
Karani Ngari
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Succession Cause / Ruling on Summons for Revocation or Annulment of Grant
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the grant of letters of administration should be revoked on grounds of concealment, misrepresentation, or material non-disclosure of facts.
- 2 Whether the existence of another pending succession cause justifies revocation of the grant.
- 3 Whether the applicant's claim as a purchaser of the estate property is valid for revocation purposes.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that although there was another succession cause (No. 5 of 2004) gazetted in respect of the same estate, there was no evidence that a grant of letters of administration had been issued in that cause. The applicant failed to provide any such grant. Therefore, there were not two grants in existence, and the mere pendency of another application was not sufficient ground for revocation. Furthermore, the applicant's claim as a purchaser was invalid because the purported seller had not been issued with a grant of letters of administration and thus lacked legal capacity to transfer any proprietary rights in the deceased's estate. The applicant's only recourse was to pursue a...
Court Disposition
application dismissed
Orders
- The summons for revocation or annulment of grant is dismissed.
- Each party to bear its own costs.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
19 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT EMBU Succession Cause 68 of 2007
IRERI NYAGA………………………………………………................APPLICANT
VERSUS
KARANI NGARI………………………….…………………………RESPONDENT
R U L I N G
The Applicant in the summons for Revocation or Annulment of the Grant herein has moved the court for the revocation of the same claiming proprietory interests over plot No.593 GACABARI ADJUDICATION SECTION which forms part of the deceased’s estate. He relies on 2 grounds on the face of the application as hereunder:-
(i)That the grant was obtained by concealment, misrepresentation and material non disclosure or material facts in the case.
(ii)That the proceedings to obtain the grant of letters of administration was defective as there was another petition pending before the same court.
In his affidavit dated 16/3/2007; he has deponed that there was another Succession Cause No. 5 of 2004 in respect of the same estate where he had been acknowledged as a purchaser of the land in question. He says that the non-disclosure was to the effect that there was another succession cause which had been gazetted and so the petitioner/Respondent herein should not have been allowed to file this cause.
I have perused and noted the contents of the annexures to the Applicant’s affidavit. I note that the succession cause No. 5 of 2004 was gazetted on 14/5/2004. There is nonetheless no indication that any grant of letters of administration was issued after that gazettement. If any grant was issued then the applicant herein has not availed a copy thereof. There are therefore no 2 letters of administration in this matter. The fact that there was already another Succession Cause pending ought to have been brought to the courts attention before the grant herein was issued. The grant issued to the Respondent herein cannot be revoked for the only ground that there was another application for grant of letters of administration in the same estate which was pending.
Secondly, I note that the applicant herein claims to have purchased the land from the petitioner in Succession Cause No. 5 of 2004. There is no evidence that the said petitioner was ever issued with a grant of letters of administration inorder to clothe him with the legal capacity to dispose off the deceased’s estate. If he therefore sold the property to the applicant herein without having been appointed the administrator to that estate, that transaction lacked the sanction of the law and it cannot therefore be a basis for revoking the grant herein. Indeed the only recourse the applicant herein has in law is to sue the person who sold the land in question to him for the recovery of his money since the said person lacked the legal capacity to transfer any proprietory rights in the deceased’s estate to the applicant herein.
The applicant has therefore not shown sufficient cause to this court as to why the said grant should be revoked. His summons for Revocation or Annulment of grant is hereby dismissed with each
party being ordered to meet its own costs.
W. KARANJA
JUDGE
Delivered, signed and dated at Embu this 18th February, 2010
In presence of:-Ireri Nyaga – Applicant present
N/A by Respondent