The High Court declared that a woman is not entitled to inherit a share of properties owned by her husband's parents in a ruling in which a widow was staking claim to a share of her father-in-law’s estate.
However, the court held that grandchildren whose parents are dead have a right to inherit the assets owned by their grandparents.
This follows the conclusion of a decade-old succession dispute in which the widow had lodged a protest seeking to inherit a share that her husband would have received from his father, who died in 2010.
“In intestacy (where a property owner dies without a will), whether under the Law of Succession Act or customary law, daughters-in-law are not entitled to a share in the estate of their dead parents-in-law,” ruled Justice William Musyoka.
In his judgment, Justice Musyoka further pronounced that sons-in-law, too, cannot inherit the estates of their parents-in-law.
Musyoka explained that the Law of Succession Act does not even talk “about children-in-law and parents-in-law.”
What the law recognises are the “children of such children-in-law”. They are entitled to the share that should have gone to their dead parents.
Section 41 of the Law of Succession Act stipulates that “their children have direct access to their grandparents’ estate, not so the children-in-law."
In this regard, the children step into the shoes of their dead parents. The children-in-law do not.
He further ruled that; "Since the children-in-law have no right or entitlement to a share in the estate of their late parent-in-law, they cannot stake any claim as in-laws.”
However, in a scenario where a person died without a will, the court adjudicated that the estate passes to their kindred—“the blood relatives, except for the surviving spouse”.
In what would be a blow to many families, Justice Musyoka determined that in-laws, be they parents-in-law or children-in-law, are not blood relatives of their children-in-law or father-in-law.
"They have no right or entitlement to the intestate estate of their dead in-law. The Law of Succession Act does not recognise them or their rights.
Indeed, the Law of Succession Act does not mention them,” he directed.
In November 2021, former president Uhuru Kenyatta assented to the Law of Succession (Amendment) Bill 2019, sponsored by Homabay Township MP George Kaluma and passed by the National Assembly.
The Bill sought to amend the definition of 'dependant' to lock out “illegitimate” spouses from inheriting a deceased person's property.
In the new law, dependants are limited to inherit the property of only the spouse and children of the deceased —whether or not maintained by the deceased before death.
The law further slammed the brakes on secret partners with a penchant for appearing when a person dies to demand recognition and a share of the departed person’s property.
