[2008] KEHC 510 (KLR)
The court found that the application to revoke or nullify the limited grant ad litem issued to Nancy Waromo Ng'ang'a lacked merit, as the respondents' grievances regarding the inclusion of James Kaberere as a beneficiary and alleged non-disclosure of assets did not meet the threshold for revocation under the Law of...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2008] KEHC 510 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: Nancy Waromo Ng'ang'a; Respondent: Agnes Muthoni Ng'ang'a; Respondent: Alan Rubia Ng'ang'a; Respondent: Sammy Mwirigi Ng'ang'a
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Law Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Miscellaneous Succession Cause 917 of 2008
- Procedural Posture
- Succession Cause / Ruling on Interlocutory Applications Regarding Administration and Preservation of Estate
- Outcome
- Application to revoke/nullify limited grant dismissed; application for preservation and management of estate allowed in part.
- Judges
- JW Gacheche
- Legal Topics
- Grant of Letters of Administration, Revocation of Grant, Intermeddling With Estate, Preservation of Estate, Beneficiary Disputes
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
Nancy Waromo Ng'ang'a
Applicant
Agnes Muthoni Ng'ang'a
Respondent
Alan Rubia Ng'ang'a
Respondent
Sammy Mwirigi Ng'ang'a
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Succession Cause / Ruling on Interlocutory Applications Regarding Administration and Preservation of Estate
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the limited grant ad litem issued to Nancy Waromo Ng'ang'a should be revoked or nullified.
- 2 Whether Nancy Waromo Ng'ang'a should be granted orders restraining the respondents from intermeddling with the estate and for their eviction from L.R. No. 209/6898 Kileleshwa Nairobi.
- 3 Whether the estate should be preserved and Nancy Waromo Ng'ang'a empowered to collect rents and manage the estate pending further orders.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the application to revoke or nullify the limited grant ad litem issued to Nancy Waromo Ng'ang'a lacked merit, as the respondents' grievances regarding the inclusion of James Kaberere as a beneficiary and alleged non-disclosure of assets did not meet the threshold for revocation under the Law of Succession Act. The court held that issues of dependency and entitlement to benefit from the estate could not be determined summarily in interlocutory proceedings. Conversely, the court found merit in Nancy's application for preservation of the estate, restraining the respondents from intermeddling, and empowering her to collect rents and manage the estate, given the risk of...
Court Disposition
Application to revoke/nullify limited grant dismissed; application for preservation and management of estate allowed in part.
Orders
- Application to revoke/nullify the limited grant ad litem issued to Nancy Waromo Ng'ang'a is dismissed.
- Nancy Waromo Ng'ang'a is granted powers to collect all rents and other income due to the estate and to pay all outstanding statutory dues.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
22 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA
AT NAIROBI (NAIROBI LAW COURTS)
Succession Cause 917 of 2008
NANCY WAROMO NG’ANG’A …………..……. APPLICANT/RESPONDENT
versus
AGNES MUTHONI NG’ANG’A ….………..1ST RESPONDENT /APPLICANT
ALAN RUBIA NG’ANG’A ………………….2nd RESPONDENT /APPLICANT
SAMMY MWIRIGI NG’ANG’A ….....……….…RD RESPONDENT /APPLICANT
RULING
This matter resolves around the estate of the lateHUMPHREY RUBIA NG’ANG’A (‘the deceased’), which comprises of several residential properties.
NANCY WAROMO NG’ANG’A,a widow of the deceased has moved this court in an application in whichseeks several orders, to restrainher three step children, namely AGNES MUTHONI NG’ANG’A, ALAN RUBIA NG’ANG’AandSAMMY MWIRIGI NG’ANG’A, the three, or their agents from taking possession, disposing of or otherwise intermeddling with the properties which form her late husband’s estate pending the grant of the letters of administration of the said estate, and also an order to compel the three to quit or vacate one of the estate properties namely L.R. No. 209/6898 Kileleshwa Nairobi, and in default an eviction order to issue.
She bases her application on several grounds but mainly that though her husband died on 19/9/2003, and though it had been agreed with her three step children that she and Allan Ng’an’ga would petition for the letters of administration of the estate, it has nevertheless become impossible to do so as these three had refused to comply and had forcibly taken over the possession of one of the properties without orderly management of the estate, and further, that the three and especially Allan have continued to intermeddle with the estate.
AGNES MUTHONI NG’ANG’A, ALAN RUBIA NG’ANG’AandSAMMY MWIRIGI NG’ANG’A,have on their part moved this court seeking orders to revoke and/or nullify the Limited Grant ad Litem, which their stepmother obtained from this court on 5/5/2008.
Each party opposes the other’s application, with the three alleging inter alia that Nancy did not provide a full list all the assets of the estate; however the three having filed what they consider to be a list of the extra assets, which Nancy concedes to.
I have considered the pleadings herein as well as the submissions of both able counsel and it now seems clear that the main the grievance of three who concede having taken possession of the property in Kileleshwa, is that their step mother included amongst the beneficiaries one James Kaberere, whom the three feel should not benefit from the estate as they allege that he was not only born out of wedlock, but that he was already an adult by the time Nancy married their father. The three however concede and rightly so, that the issue of dependency cannot be determined in a summary manner, or in other words in an application such as the one before me. It is my humble opinion that given the above circumstances, the application to revoke/nullify the limited grant which was issued to Nancy is devoid of merit and I dismiss it accordingly.
I do on the other hand find that there would be need to allow Nancy’s application in terms of prayers 4 and 5. in furtherance thereto and having taken note of the lists which the both parties have submitted, which gives an indication of the full inventory of the assets of the estate, and being duly empowered, and in the interests of justice, I also do order that the estate be preserved, with powers to Nancy Waromo Ng’ang’a to collect all the rents that are due to the estate as well as all other incomings and there-from to pay all outstanding statutory dues. She shall not only be accountable but shall also be responsible for the preservation of the whole estate until further orders of this court.
The three respondents shall meet the costs of these applications.
Dated and delivered at Nairobi this 11th day of November 2008.
JEANNE GACHECHE
Judge
Delivered in the presence of: