People have experienced difficulties getting title deeds after the passing on of their loved ones because of lengthy documentations. Succession is the passing of rights to land of the deceased to the heirs. Under the Law of Succession, those who can inherit the deceased property are:-
- Wife/wives of the deceased;
- Children of the deceased;
- Deceased parents who were being maintained by the deceased just before the death and included in the will or where the deceased has no surviving wife or child.
Where your parent dies without having a will then intestate succession takes course. Some of the things you need to know about intestate succession?
Where you are married and with children, the surviving spouse is absolutely entitled. This however ends when one decides to remarry. In this case, the children will be entitled to the entire estate.
In case you are not married with no children, the entire estate goes to the family members in order of those who still live as follows:
- Dad
- Mum
- Brothers and sisters etc
How does the intestate succession process go?
Determining the value of the property. If the property is less than 20,000,000/- file the matter in magistrate court. If more than 20,000,000/, file in high court. This is accompanied with the search of the property, chief’s letter indicating the beneficiaries and the liabilities of the deceased such as people who had bought part of the land and the original death certificate of the deceased.
File the below four forms in the relevant court:
- Identify the administrators and not less than 3 witnesses;
- List of all the properties of the deceased person;
- List of beneficiaries and dependents;
- The main petition.
The petition is then gazetted at a cost of approx. 3,000/- for a period of 30 days for any objections.
You will then get the gazette notice which you will attach to the application for the hearing of the petition on the letters of administration.
The letter of administration is issued after 6 months from the date of the gazettement if there is no any objection.
After getting letters of administration, file for an application for grant confirmation. You can also file how the subdivision among the beneficiaries will be done.
You will then get letters of administration from the court empowering and confirming the representative to distribute the said land to the heirs.
Take this certificate of confirmation to the land registry where you file for the transfer of land. You will provide the following details:-
- Details of the land;
- What size is transferred and to whom;
- Passport size photographs of the administrator and the beneficiary;
- A form for every beneficiary.