My husband registered our property in his girlfriend's name

I have been married for 16 years and at present, I am the only legal wife to my husband. However, he has been seeing this woman for more than 8 years now and everyone knows that she is his mistress and he has even built a house for her. A few months ago I got the shock of my life when I discovered that the land in which we live is registered under her name.

The documents are now in my possession but this made me realise that everything I thought was mine actually belongs to her. I don’t know what to do now but I see I am on the path to losing everything. Please help me understand what the law says about such things? Is there a possibility that I may lose my house to my husband’s mistress? {Jessica}

Counsellor's Take

That is a rather peculiar position for anyone to find themselves in especially in this day and time when people are increasingly becoming aware of their rights and the rule of law is being upheld. This should in the least confirm that the status of that woman is not as casual as we may regard any other mistress. She has a rather strong grip on your home and this is definitely a recipe for disaster.

My consult with a legal practitioner revealed that the law only recognises and protects the rightful owner of property in the event of a dispute who in this event is your co-wife. Again, the law only recognises the land and not the house. The house is termed as part of the erected structures just as would be termed of a perimeter wall, gate or any other physical structure on the land. This therefore means that the land and all developments therein belong to the owner in whose name the property is registered. However, this may be contested if the transfer was effected after the enactment of the Land Registration Act of 2012. Section 28 (a) of this Act recognises spousal rights and demands their consent in the transfer of land and more so that which may be termed as matrimonial property.

If the transfer was effected after the enactment of this law and without your consent then that transfer may be considered un-procedural and could see it either being reversed. The other way could be that the Court may compel him to pay damages to you which may then be in your favour. However, you would need to ascertain the title of the land before the said transfer and the effective date of the transfer. These details are available on the Title Deed that you said is now in your possession.

It may be of help to conduct an official search on the land to get accurate details on the status of the land. You may be surprised to find that this is only a scheme to intimidate you but nonetheless it is important to get the right and actual information about the land to enable to make the right decision on the next cause of action.

Essentially, if the land has always been under her title, or if the transfer was effected before the enactment of the Land Registration Act, 2012 then unfortunately you may lose the land and your house to her should she claim it back. One last thing is that you may want to play it cool for as long as it does not arise by just keeping silent about the whole issue. There is a possibility that she may be in the dark about this. You don‘t want to open a can of warms on such a sensitive matter. In some instances, it pays to keep your mouth shut. {Taurus}

Your Take

Seek the advice of a lawyer so he can advise you about your next step. Your husband may already be married to that woman while you live you life thinking you are his only wife. These are the signs of a man who wants to leave his wife for a younger wife. Watch out. {Terry Mungai}

The writing is clearly on the wall for you. Men have this innate inability of keeping secrets and that is just their nature. The law provides for sharing of property in case of a divorce, but your case is different because he has put the documents in her name. Maybe it is time you consolidated your own property, in your name. {Dickson Aseri}

If he can keep such a deep secret all these years then he is keeping a lot more hidden from you than you think. Trust is an essential element of any relationship, it can be easily broken and can never be mended. Your husband has betrayed you and this led to the total breakdown of trust between the two of you. Try and find out what else he is hiding from you and confront him on this secret and understand why he kept it for so long. Also ask what plans he has for you and for the other woman in future. {MaryStella M}

People are hurt by lies and they then drift apart especially when trust is broken. Explain to him that it is hard to feel emotionally connected to someone when you catch them keeping such major secrets from you. Take this as confirmation that she is actually his wife and therefore you have a co-wife to deal with. {Samuel Muthee}