Description
MAJURA SONGO NYEKAJI, HIGH COURT, MUSOMA, 2020
Petition for letters of administration, submit a statement explaining for the delay.
- The law that the Law of Limitation does not strictly apply to matters of probate and administration of estate, but when a petition is filed after three years from the death of the deceased, the petitioner has to provide grounds for such a delay. Mwaka Musa V.Simon Obeid Simchimba Civil Appeal No. 45/1994 (CAT Unreported) followed.
- Petition for letters of administration was filed after expiry of 33 years subsequent to death of the deceased, without a supporting statement on the cause of delay. The requirement to submit a statement for delay is a mandatory requirement.
- Failure to submit a statement explaining for the delay, when a petition for letters of administration of the deceased’s estate or grant of a probate is filed for the first time after expire of three years from the death of the deceased, is fatal and renders a petition incompetent.
- It is very vital to provide such an explanation bearing in mind that the deceased’s heirs may have been enjoying the estate of the deceased peacefully.
