Succession and inheritance: What happens to land if owner dies without leaving a will?

INTESTATE SUCCESSION

This is when there is no will left by the deceased (intestate). In case the deceased left one surviving spouse and a child or children, the surviving spouse shall be entitled to:-
• The personal and household effects of the deceased
• The intestate property but cannot sell this intestate property as the spouse is holding it on behalf of the children. If the spouse remarries, he/she loses his/her entitlement to the intestate property.
Where the deceased has left a surviving child or children but no spouse, the intestate property will be transferred to the surviving child or divided equally among the surviving children.
Where the deceased left no surviving spouse or children, the intestate shall be transferred in this order of priority:
• Father; or if dead,
• Mother; or if dead
• Brothers and sisters, and any child or children of deceased brothers and sisters, in equal shares; or if none
• Half -brothers and half sisters, and any child or children of deceased half-brothers and half-sisters, in equal shares; or if none
• Distant relatives up to the sixth degree in equal shares.
If the deceased is not survived by any of the above then the intestate property estate shall be taken up by the state.

REVOCATION, ALTERATION AND REVIVAL

A will can be revoked, altered and revived only by the maker at the time when he is competent to dispose of his property. This can only happen when the maker takes some action to indicate that he/she no longer wants the will to be binding. For this to be effective, the intent of the maker, whether express or implied must be clear and an act of revocation consistent with this intent must take place.

WHAT DOES A “DEPENDENT” MEAN?

It means:
• The wife or wives, or former wife or wives, and the children of the deceased whether or not maintained by the deceased before his death.
• The deceased’s parent, step parents, grand-parents, grandchildren, step- children, children whom the deceased had taken into his family as his own,
• Brother and sisters, and half -brothers and half-sisters, who were being maintained by the deceased before his death.
• Where the deceased is a woman, her husband if he was being maintained by her before her death.