Who inherits when someone dies without a will and leaves a spouse but no children?
Law of Succession Act · sources read 4 Oct 2026
If the person who died without a will left a husband or wife but no children, the spouse gets the personal and household belongings, the first KSh 10,000 or 20% of what is left (whichever is more), and a life interest in the rest. When the life interest ends, the property passes to the deceased's relatives in the order the law sets. In 2022 the High Court declared the KSh 10,000-or-20% paragraph unconstitutional, so get legal advice on how the share is worked out.
- 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. The court generally gives the surviving spouse first preference to run the estate.
- File at the magistrate's court if the estate is within its money limit, or at the High Court for bigger estates.
- If you need to sell estate property for your upkeep during the life interest, get the consent of the co-trustees and adult children or of the court; land and buildings always need the court's consent.
Watch out
- A life interest lets the spouse use the rest of the estate and its income for life; it is not full ownership.
- The KSh 10,000 figure can be changed by the Cabinet Secretary through a Gazette notice.
- No one, including the spouse, may take or sell the deceased's property without a court grant or other legal authority.
- In 2022 the High Court declared section 36(1)(b), the paragraph giving the spouse the first KSh 10,000 or 20%, unconstitutional because sections 35, 36 and 39 discriminate against women, and said the Act must be read so men and women have equal rights. Get legal advice on how the share is worked out now.
- The Act still says a widow's life interest ends if she re-marries (it says nothing similar for a widower). The 2022 High Court judgment said the Act must give men and women equal rights, but its orders did not expressly strike out this proviso.
Who this covers
- A husband or wife left behind by someone who died without a will and had no children.
Official sources (3)
- Law of Succession Act (Cap. 160) new.kenyalaw.org · read 4 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