A Malaba court has ruled that being the only son of a deceased person does not give a beneficiary an exclusive right to take sole control of a parent’s estate.

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Resident Magistrate Ogange rejected a claim by a beneficiary who argued that he should be appointed the sole administrator of his late parent’s estate because he was the only male child.

In a ruling delivered at the Malaba Senior Principal Magistrate’s Court on September 2, 2026, the court instead appointed him as a co-administrator alongside another beneficiary, allowing both to jointly oversee the administration of the estate.

The dispute arose after an application was made seeking the beneficiary's appointment as a co-administrator. He opposed the proposal, insisting that his position as the deceased’s only male child entitled him to sole administration.

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The court noted that the succession case had remained substantially stalled since 2023, with previous attempts by the parties to resolve the dispute at clan level failing to produce a settlement.

The parties were later referred to mediation, but the court found no evidence of a meaningful attempt to participate, leaving the estate and its beneficiaries in limbo.

Magistrate Ogange said Section 66 of the Law of Succession Act gives the court the final discretion on who should receive a grant of representation, with the overriding consideration being the best interests of everyone concerned.

The court further relied on Section 38 of the Law of Succession Act, which provides that where a person dies without a spouse but leaves children, the estate is equally divided among the surviving children where there is more than one.

“It follows that the law does not recognize a superior entitlement on account of being a male child as opposed to a female child,” the magistrate ruled.

The court also cited a 2022 succession decision in which the High Court found that being the first child or son of a deceased person did not give someone seniority in entitlement to administer an estate.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke