The High Court in Nairobi has ruled that a woman can be recognised as a wife in succession matters.
This can be so even if she married a man whose monogamous marriage to another woman had not been dissolved.
According to reports, the court held that Section 3(5) of the Law of Succession Act protects succession rights in such circumstances, allowing the spouse and her children to benefit from the estate of the deceased despite the marriage being legally invalid.
The decision clarifies the distinction between the legal validity of a marriage and the recognition of a spouse’s rights under succession law, an issue that has often been contested in courts.
High Court grants a second wife inheritance despite an invalid marriage
In this case, the objector’s marriage to the deceased was challenged after it emerged that his first monogamous marriage had not been dissolved when they got married.
The deceased first married another woman in 1987 before the marriage was later dissolved through divorce proceedings in 2020.
The court established that he underwent a customary marriage ceremony with the objector in 2015 before contracting a civil marriage in Tanzania.
Although the second marriage was legally void, the court found that the deceased had treated the woman as his wife, introduced her as his spouse and had two children with her.
It ruled that Parliament intended Section 3(5) of the Succession Act to protect spouses in such unions for inheritance purposes despite other legal limitations on the validity of the marriage.
Therefore, the ruling stated that the objector and her children are recognised as wife and children of the deceased under succession law
