EXECUTORSHIP

Executorship is the body of statute law, case law and practice concerning the management of the estate of a deceased person. In what follows, we shall express the law as applying to a masculine person, but it applies equally to women, whether married or not.

When a person dies, he dies:-

(a) TESTATE — he leaves a valid will, which disposes of all his free property (i.e the property of which he was legally competent to dispose during his lifetime, and in respect of which his interest does not terminate by his death) OR
       
(b) INTESTATE — he does not leave a valid will, or the will does not dispose of all his free property.

Since the vast majority of people in Kenya die intestate i.e. without leaving a will, we will deal with this situation first.