How to fast-track succession cases and protect widows’ rights
Brenda Yambo, a legal counsel at Fida-Kenya. Photo | Pool
What you need to know:
- As inheritance disputes drag through courts, elderly widows are urging faster justice before age overtakes them.
- Legal experts say mediation can help families resolve succession conflicts faster and avoid costly courtroom battles.
Recently, we ran a story on ageing widows in Uasin Gishu whose inheritance disputes have kept them trapped in courtrooms for more than a decade.
Now in their 70s and 80s, they spoke of spending years pursuing succession cases, watching their health deteriorate as they waited for justice. Their plea was that the courts expedite inheritance cases involving elderly litigants so they can access the property left behind by their husbands before it is too late.
The State of the Judiciary and the Administration of Justice Annual Report 2024/25 shows that urban counties, including Nairobi (75 per cent of cases classified as civil), Kisumu (61 per cent) and Uasin Gishu (61 per cent), continue to record a strong bias towards civil disputes.
Much of this caseload, it indicates, is driven by conflicts over land, property, contracts and family-related matters, underscoring how everyday economic and household disputes are increasingly finding their way into the formal court system.
Mediation
However, legal experts say that while faster court processes would help, there is another avenue that could spare families years of litigation altogether: alternative dispute resolution, particularly mediation. According to Brenda Yambo, a senior legal counsel at the Federation of Women Lawyers-Kenya (Fida-Kenya), many inheritance disputes can be resolved outside the courtroom if families are willing to negotiate and agree on how estates should be distributed.
Succession and inheritance cases are among the most protracted matters before Kenyan courts. Unlike ordinary civil disputes, they often involve multiple family members, competing interests, contested wills, and disagreements over who should inherit what. “When those disputes arise, the matter can remain in court for years,” she says.
The law itself requires several procedural steps, as she explains. Once a petition for letters of administration is filed, it must be gazetted to notify the public and give anyone with an interest in the estate an opportunity to object. Interested parties have 30 days to lodge objections.
Where no objections are raised, the process can move quickly. But when beneficiaries disagree, succession cases can become entangled in endless applications, adjournments, and hearings.
Backlogs
Court backlogs only worsen the situation. “By the time some of these matters are concluded, the delay itself has already occasioned injustice,” she says. “You may find a widow has spent years waiting for a determination while struggling to access property or income she depends on.”
It is for this reason that legal practitioners are increasingly encouraging families to embrace mediation before disputes escalate into full-blown court battles. In 2018, then High Court Family Division presiding judge Aggrey Muchelule observed that billions of shillings remained tied up in succession cases due to family disputes, a situation he said denied families access to their wealth.
He noted that the Family Division had rolled out mediation as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism aimed at helping resolve family conflicts more efficiently. At the time, he pointed out that at least 13,000 succession cases were pending in Nairobi alone. The judge urged members of the public to manage their lives and property responsibly, warning that avoidable disputes often end up in court processes that consume both time and family wealth.
Not more than a year
Mediation involves a neutral third party helping disputing family members identify common ground and negotiate a settlement, she explains. Unlike a judge, she says, a mediator does not decide who is right or wrong and cannot impose an outcome on the parties.
Instead, family members retain control over the final decision. “The mediator helps parties discuss their concerns and explore possible solutions,” she says. “If they reach an agreement, it is put into writing and can be adopted by the court as a binding settlement.”
The process can shorten the time needed to conclude succession matters. “Many disputes revolve around the mode of distribution: how land, houses, businesses or other assets should be shared among beneficiaries. If parties can agree on that question early, they can avoid years of litigation,” she says.
“In many cases, if there are no objections and people can agree, a succession matter should not take more than a year.”
The challenge, however, is that inheritance disputes often involve deep-seated family tensions. “In polygamous families, disagreements may emerge between different houses,” she says. “Adult children may contest decisions made by surviving spouses. Some relatives may oppose a widow's role as administrator of the estate. Others may question ownership of particular assets.”
The situation becomes even more complicated when property records are incomplete or beneficiaries have little information about the deceased's assets, she says.
Hidden title deeds
Brenda says some widows discover after their husbands' deaths that they do not know where title deeds are kept or whether property ownership records are up to date. In some instances, obtaining key documents such as a chief's letter becomes another source of conflict, she says.
These challenges underscore the importance of addressing disputes early before positions harden and relationships deteriorate. Beyond mediation, Brenda believes reforms are needed to protect vulnerable litigants, especially older widows.
Among the measures she proposes are fast-tracking succession cases involving litigants aged 70 years and above and dedicating more judicial resources to family and succession matters.
Specialised court divisions
She also suggests specialised court divisions focused on succession disputes, similar to the way courts handle sexual offences.
Meanwhile, organisations such as Fida-Kenya continue to provide legal representation, community sensitisation and strategic litigation aimed at strengthening women's inheritance rights.
“We participated in court cases challenging discriminatory inheritance practices and have advocated reforms to ensure widows and daughters enjoy equal protection under the law,” she says.
