Man wins inheritance battle against stepsister

A man who was disinherited by a stepsister has won a 25-year legal battle.

Appeal judges Erastus Githinji, Martha Koome and Fatuma Sichale dismissed an appeal by Ann Githaiga and allowed her stepbrother Stephen Maina Githaiga to share in the estate of their late father.

The judges said they were convinced both Stephen and his sister Keziah Njeri who are from a second marriage are children of their father Hudson Githaiga Githinji and should be given their share.

“We think we have said enough to demonstrate that we are ultimately convinced that the appeal is both incompetent and frivolous,” the judges said.

Stephen Maina Githaiga was denied rights to inherit his father’s estate because the children of the first wife (his stepmother) said he is not their father’s son. His stepsister Ann Githaiga opposed his right to share in the estate.

His father Hudson Githaiga Githinji married his mother Hellen Warmarwa according to Kikuyu traditional customary law, he says.

But his mother and dad went their separate ways when he and his sister Keziah were young. He was in Class Four and he was brought up by his stepmother.

He went away to look for work as a teenager and when he returned his stepmother showed him where to construct a house on the deceased's parcel of land.

He said that during the funeral of his father he and his sister were recognized in the eulogy of the deceased and have been all along recognized by the deceased's clan.

However, Githaiga's stepsister Ann told the court that Stephen came to their home in 1999 having been brought by clan elders and she did not know where he had come from.

She contended that she and her children are the rightful heirs of the deceased because by the time he died he had built for her a house where he left her with her children who were also supported by the deceased.

Their trouble began when their father died on January 30, 1993 in Kerugoya.

On February 24, 1994 Jemimah Wambui Githaiga and Ann Githaiga moved to court seeking to be given letters of administration while describing themselves as the widow and daughter of the deceased.

In their case they listed the survivors of the deceased as Jemimah Wairimu Githaiga (widow), Anne Wambui (daughter), Maina Githaiga (son), Keziah Njeri (daughter), Ruth Nyacomba (mother) together with five grandsons.

The High Court issued the letter of grant to the widow and that meant the estate was to vest in her in trust of her children.

Aggrieved by that decision on July 4, 2002, Stephen filed an application seeking revocation of the grant and the schedule of distribution saying it excluded his mother’s children.

He claimed that he was the son of the deceased and that he and his sister were left out in the schedule of distribution despite the fact that they were named in the petition for grant of letters of administration as the children of the deceased.

Stepsister Ann on the other hand and her mother contested that Stephen and his sister were children of her father.

After considering and evaluating the evidence from both sides, the judge was satisfied that Stephen and his sister Keziah were children of the deceased and they ought to have been provided for in the distribution of the estate of the deceased.

As regards the grand children, the Judge noted that the law of succession is clear that grandchildren are not entitled to a share of the estate of their grandfather when their own parents are alive.

The estate was to be shared equally between three surviving children Ann, Stephen and Keziah.

But Ann filed an appeal, to challenge the High Court ruling.