Rwathia ‘prodigal' son to get more property

A court has overruled a Rwathia family’s decision to exclude its kin, who allegedly squandered his allocated wealth then returned home, from receiving more properties during succession.

Justice Grace Kemei quashed the estate distribution formula by Esther Watheri and her three sons excluding Johnson Githanga, the first born son.

Mr Githanga moved to court seeking punitive costs against his mother and his brothers for perpetuating and abetting fraud. The succession involved four parcels of land registered as land parcel No. LOC 19/Kiwambogo/352,360, 366 and T.189.

The dispute was whether Mr Githanga can inherit twice, since he had already been given his share.

The family was of the position that Mr Githanga had been already provided for through allocation of three properties situated in Nyahururu and Ruiru by his deceased father Mwaniki Githanga.

Ms Watheri explained that the plaintiff sold the properties.

The mother informed the court her husband did not want the Mr Githanga to settle on any of the suit lands.

As a result Mr Githanga was also given land at Rwathia (Mutitu/Ngoru/block 2) measuring 2.75 hectares.

She further built a home for the first born son and settled him on the land (Rwathia) but he soon sold the land and returned home. But in her ruling, Justice Kemei found that the properties Mr Githanga is alleged to have squandered did not form part of the deceased’s estate. He said the estate disclosed to the court in succession did not include the lands given to the Mr Githanga by his father.

“That in law is called an advancement. If the mother wanted the advancement to be included, then this should have been disclosed to the succession Court. If this disclosure had been made the court would have made the relevant provision/decision in accordance with section 26 of the succession Act,” said the judge.