Woman, daughter-in-law battle over lawyer's Sh25 million estate

A woman and her daughter-in-law are embroiled in a succession row over a deceased lawyer's Sh25 million estate.

The mother of the late lawyer and his alleged daughter want the court to revoke a grant issued to the widow Jedidah Wairimu.

Sote Kiplenge and her granddaughter Nancy Wairimu accuse the widow and her daughter Agnes Jebet of excluding them.

According to court documents, the lawyer died intestate on October 7, 2022, at Aga Khan Hospital.

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Kiplenge while testifying before Justice Heston Nyaga claimed that Jedidah failed to include all the property in the Sh25 million estate.

She alleged that her daughter-in-law failed to include her and the granddaughter as beneficiaries while petitioning for a grant.

“I had five children, struggled to ensure that my son gets the best education abroad, when he was alive he promised that I was his responsibility,”  she said.

Kiplenge tolf court that her son had a law firm and used the proceeds to support her and Nancy.

She claimed that when her son died, the support stopped including medicare.

“When my son was alive, he built a house for me, I used to depend on him but when he died his wife didn’t want to see me nor hear from me,” she said.

Kiplenge through lawyer Njoroge said she learned about her granddaughter Nancy through his son when she was in Standard Five.

“There is no bad blood between me, my daughter-in-law and granddaughter, what I want is unity, and for them to include us as beneficiaries,” she said.

She claimed that after her son was buried she was forced to leave the home.

“According to our culture, when someone dies, there should be someone to light the fire, we don’t abandon our own, while I was staying at the homestead my daughter-in-law chased me,” she claimed.

In a replying affidavit, Jedidah indicated that Kiplenge is her mother-in-law but Nancy was a stranger to her family with unknown interest in her husband's estate.

“As the wife of the deceased, I petitioned for a grant of letter of administration to be able to administer the estate of my husband after his demise,” she said.

She argued that no evidence had been brought before the court to indicate that Nancy was her husband’s biological daughter.

Jedidah said that Nancy didn’t participate in her husband’s funeral arrangements and was not included in the eulogy as the child of the deceased.

The widow claimed to have included all the property belonging to her husband in the Sh25 million estate.

She claimed that her husband owned Baringo/Mochongoi block 1/1065, Laikipia/Nyahururu /6712, Nakuru municipality block 12/225, motor vehicle, and shares in Oriental Commercial Bank Ltd.

The case will be heard on July 1.