Who inherits when someone dies without a will, a spouse or children?
Law of Succession Act · sources read 4 Oct 2026
If the person who died without a will left no spouse and no children, the estate goes first to the parents, then to brothers and sisters in equal shares, then half-brothers and half-sisters, then the nearest relatives up to the sixth degree. If there is no one, it goes to the State.
- Deadline
- A dependant must apply for provision before the court confirms the grant.
- Where
- The succession (probate and administration) registry of the magistrate's court, or the High Court for bigger estates
Steps
- Apply to the succession court for letters of administration. Relatives entitled to inherit are preferred according to the size of their share.
- File at the magistrate's court if the estate is within its money limit, or at the High Court for bigger estates.
- A relative the deceased was supporting just before death can ask the court for a fair share, even if they are not first in line.
Watch out
- The Act names the father before the mother. The Judiciary's own guide points out that this gives fathers priority over mothers.
- If no relative up to the sixth degree survives, the estate goes to the State.
- No relative may take or sell the deceased's property without a court grant or other legal authority.
- The Act still lists the father before the mother, but in 2022 the High Court declared that order unconstitutional, so parents should be treated as ranking equally.
Who this covers
- Relatives of a person who died without a will and left no husband, wife or children.
- Children of a brother or sister who died earlier take their parent's place in the share.
Official sources (4)
- Law of Succession Act (Cap. 160) new.kenyalaw.org · read 4 Oct 2026
- Simplified Resource Tool on Inheritance and Related Family Law Practice in Kenya judiciary.go.ke · read 3 Oct 2026
- Magistrate Courts judiciary.go.ke · read 3 Oct 2026
- Ripples International v Attorney General & another; FIDA (Interested Party) (Constitutional Petition E017 of 2021) [2022] KEHC 13210 (KLR) (29 September 2022) new.kenyalaw.org · read 4 Oct 2026