MP Kaluma seeks to lock out secret lovers from inheritance

Secret lovers and children born outside wedlock will not benefit from family wealth should a proposed succession law gets approval from the National Assembly.

The proposals by Homabay Town MP Peter Kaluma wants mistresses barred from family inheritance when a spouse passes on—Kaluma wants inheritance only limited to legally married husbands and wives and their legal children—in his bill, the succession amendment bill, Kaluma also wants husbands to automatically manage their wives estates without having to prove dependence on their spouse—

The Succession Amendment Bill, 2019 seeks to reorganize family inheritance in the country—the bill seeks to redefine that only a spouse as defined under the marriage act qualifies for inheritance.

A spouse in this case meaning a husband or a wife or wives recognized under the marriage.

Simply put, the mp wants estates to strictly be shared among husbands and wives who are legally married and their children

The Bill will lock out lovers who mushroom after a spouse dies and file petitions in court, seeking to be enjoined in the estate’s share.

The bill defines a dependent as the spouse and children of the deceased whether or not maintained by the deceased immediately prior to his death.

Others who can benefit from inheritance include the deceased parents, stepparents, grandparents, grandchildren, stepchildren, adopted children, brothers and sisters, half brothers and sisters as were being maintained by the deceased before their death.

Kaluma further states that anyone not named in the Bill shall not be a dependent unless the person proves maintenance by the deceased for a period of two years prior to the deceased’s death.

The Bill has been construed as an avenue of blocking and locking out mistresses from claiming family estates upon the death of a spouse—several mistresses and children sired out of wedlock have previously petitioned courts demanding to be enjoined in family inheritance claiming having affairs with the deceased

“If you were a secret remain there as a secret. My wife should not be mourning and another one I was meeting at a retreat someone is busy in some court,” Kaluma said.

Likewise, the bill seeks to have husbands automatically inherit from their wives without going through a tedious court process to prove dependence on their spouse.

According to Kaluma, the current law is discriminatory towards widowers