Apparently billions of shillings are locked up in succession cases due to family disputes. There are at least 13,000 succession cases in the courts in Nairobi alone. Justice Aggrey Muchelule is urging members of the public to “manage their lives and properties responsibly to avoid disputes that will necessitate court process that waste their time and wealth”
It is likely many of such cases end up in court due to communication breakdown, perhaps encourage such family disputes to go first for Mediation or arbitration before resorting to take the matter to court, dispute mediation centres.
Its our slow, ancient, corrupt and inefficient judiciary. Right now cases being taken to commercial court are being given dates of Nov 2018. Sasa pesa ndio itaamua if that case is to be brought forward.
It is still a taboo for a Kenyan to contemplate what will happen after his death or even anticipate it even though it will surely come to pass. A will can easily sort out a substantial number of this disputes.
The main reason why all those cases are pending in Nairobi is that whereas recent legislative amendments now give Magistrates authority to preside over succession causes if the value of the estate is within the Magistrate’s pecuniary jurisdiction, there is no Family Registry at the Milimani Commercial Courts where civil cases are filed.
Only the High Court of Kenya at Nairobi [specifically, the Family Division, which has like 5 judges only] has the infrastructure to handle the succession cases. What that means is that despite the amendments to the law in 2015, no Magistrate in Nairobi has ever heard or concluded a succession cause despite having the jurisdiction to do so.