Court locks a man out of his father's estate

Hundreds of Maasai livestock at the controversial Ngongongeri settlement scheme in Njoro, Nakuru County. Land owners are accusing members of the Ogiek community for brutaly eviting them and their agents before leasing the lands to outsiders .PHOTO:KIPSANG JOSEPH

Failure to reconcile with a parent when he was still alive has cost a man his inheritance.

Mr Julius Kinyua is to watch as his siblings enjoy fruits from their parents’ estate after failing to reconcile with his father when he was alive.

The High Court sitting in Nanyuki gave his brothers Paul Miriti and David Mbaya powers to manage their late father’s estate as per his last wishes and ordered that a caveat he had put on one of the properties be removed.

In the succession case, late M’imanene M’Rukaria had 11 children -- Paul, David, Julius, Jane, Agnes Karuru, Gladys, John, Julia, Loise, Karambu and Agnes -- and two pieces of land in Nanyuki. They were located in Timau and Ntirimiti Market.

Paul told the court in his evidence that their brother and wife abused their father and were disinherited and kicked out of the family’s Timau property.

On his part, David told the court that their father had stated before his death that Julius should not inherit any of his properties or even attend his funeral.

“Julius refused to be reconciled with our late father before he died,” David told the court. M’Rukaria died on April 1, 2008 and his wife Evangeline Muthoni applied for letters of administration. The letters were issued by the court in Nyeri on January 20, 2015 but she did not have them confirmed before her death on July 24, 2016.

The court issued letters of grant on March 16 this year to Paul and David.

In her judgment, delivered in an open court on May 25, Justice Mary Kassango said all living beneficiaries of the estate save for Jane Nyoroka (daughter) appeared in court on March 22 and they all consented to the two brothers managing their late father’s estate.

However, Julius, who had been disinherited and kicked out of the home, objected to the piece of land in Timau being held in trust for the family by the two brothers, a move that forced the court to order for oral evidence.

The court was then told that Julius had previously objected to the petitioning of grant letters of administration by their mother and placed a caveat to the Timau property on September 14, 2007.

The court heard that Julius was later paid Sh20,000 as per his demand to remove the caveat but did not do it.

In his evidence, Julius told the court that it was his wife who disagreed with their late father and the disagreement led him to move out of the family land that is now cultivated by all other members of the family apart from him.
The court pointed out that there was no reason why the land, as proposed by the majority of the deceased’s children, should not be held in trust of them by the administrators.

It also made it clear that the property held in trust of the other family members “does not grant Julius the right to cultivate” the Timau piece of land.

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