Property in your spouse's name only: do you have a claim?
Matrimonial Property Act 2013 · sources read 4 Oct 2026
If property was acquired during your marriage in your spouse's name only, the law presumes your spouse holds it in trust for you, though this can be disproved in court. If the property was your spouse's own but you helped improve it, you gain an interest in it equal to what you contributed.
- Where
- Land registry (caution or caveat); the court for a declaration of property rights
Steps
- Protect your interest by lodging a caution or caveat against the title at the land registry.
- If your spouse or former spouse disputes your share, you can ask a court to declare your rights to the property.
- You can make this application as part of a divorce case, or on its own without filing for divorce.
Watch out
- The trust rule is only a presumption. Your spouse can try to prove the property is theirs alone.
- Property a spouse acquired or inherited before the marriage is not matrimonial property, unless you contributed to improving it.
- Trust property, including land held in trust under customary law, is not matrimonial property.
Who this covers
- Spouses, for matrimonial property acquired during the marriage and registered in one spouse's name.
- A spouse who contributed to improving the other spouse's separate property, whether it was acquired before or during the marriage.
Official sources (1)
- Matrimonial Property Act, No. 49 of 2013 new.kenyalaw.org · read 4 Oct 2026