Court jurisdiction

A court may limit a grant of representation which it has jurisdiction to make, as follows:

1. Where the will has been lost or mislaid since the testator's death or has been destroyed by wrong or accident and not by any act of the testator and a copy of the draft of the will has been preserved, probate may be granted of the copy or draft limited until the original or a properly authenticated copy of it is produced;

2. When a will is in the possession of a person residing outside Kenya who has refused or neglected to deliver it, but a copy has been transmitted to the executor, and it is necessary for the interest of the estate that probate should be granted without waiting for the arrival of the original, probate may be granted of the copy so transmitted; limited until the will or an authenticated copy of it is produced;

3. Where no will of a deceased is forthcoming, but there is reason to believe that there is a will in existence, letters of administration may be granted, limited until the will or an authenticated copy of it is produced;

4. When any executor is absent from Kenya and there is no executor in Kenya willing to work, letters of administration with the will annexed may be granted to the attorney of the absent executor for the use and benefit of his principal, limited until he shall obtain probate or letters of administration granted to himself;

5. When a minor is sole executor or sole residuary legatee, letters of administration with the will annexed may be granted to the legal guardian of the minor or to such other person as the court think fit until the minor has attained full age at, which time, and not before, probate of the will is granted to him; in the case of several minors, when the others reach full age;

6. When a sole executor is a person of unsound mind, letters of administration with the will annexed is granted to the person to whom the care of the executor's estate has been committed by a competent authority, or if there is no such a person, to such other person as the court thinks fit, until the executor becomes a sound mind;

7. Where there is a suit touching the validity of the will or obtaining or revoking any probate or any grant or letters of administration, the court may appoint an administration of the estate of the deceased person who shall have all the rights and powers of a general administration other than the right of distributing the estate; the administrator is subject to the immediate control of the court act under its direction;

8. If an executor is appointed for a limited purpose specified in the will, the probate shall be limited to that purpose;

9. If an executor appointed generally gives an authority to an attorney to prove a will on his behalf and the authority is limited to a limited purpose, the letters of administration, with the will annexed shall be granted subject to the exception;

10. Whenever a grant, with exception, of probate or letters of administration with or without the will attached has been made, the person entitled to probate or administrator of the remainder of the deceased's estate may take a grant of probate or letters of administration of the rest of the deceased's estate;

11. If the executor to whom probate has been granted dies leaving part of the testator's estate unadministered, a new representation may be appointed for the purpose of administering that part of the estate;

12. When a limited grant has expired by effluxion of time, or the happening of the event or contingency on whom it was limited, and there is still some part of the deceased's estate unadministered, letters of administration shall be granted to those persons to whom the original grant might have been made.