Secret lovers have been locked out of their patners’ wealth in case of death in the new changes.
President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday signed into Law Succession (Amendment) Bill that was sponsored by Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma so as to streamline administration of succession matters in the country.
According to Kaluma, the main aim of the Bill is to avoid situations where opportunistic schemers successfully claim a stake in a deceased person’s estate hence disenfranchising the legitimate heirs of the deceased.
“The Bill seeks to provide clarity on who a dependant of a deceased person is. It gives stronger protection to the spouse, children and extended family of a deceased person in succession matters,” he said.
In the new law, the spouse and children of the deceased are entitled to inherit property whether or not maintained by the deceased immediately prior to his death.
Others, who are considered as dependants, are the deceased’s parents, step-parents, grandparents, grandchildren, step-children, children whom the deceased had taken into his family as his own, brothers, sisters, half-brothers and half-sisters, who were being maintained by the deceased immediately prior to his death.
The law, however, gives room for the nonconventional dependants, including secret lovers, to fight for their rights if they feel aggrieved by the decision to lock them out of the deceased’s wealth.
Previously, the law included the dead’s parents, grandchildren, stepchildren, children the family, brothers and sisters.
Kenyatta also assented to Law the Refugees Bill and Foreign Service Bill.
