By Dickson Jere
A Lusaka woman lost her husband. She was then appointed Administrator of the late husband’s estate, which included a house in Chilanga valued at ZMK3.4 million. She obtained the letters of appointment as Administrator from the Local Court and assumed her duties.
Her daughter – one of the beneficiaries – needed to pay her school fees overseas. But the widow had no immediate cash. Her friend introduced her to the Chinese money lender so that she can get cash and sort out school fees. She obtained a loan of ZMK300,000 and pledged the Chilanga house as collateral. However, she was made to sign the Contract of Sale instead.
As fate had it, she defaulted on the six months loan repayments and the money lenders proceeded to take and changed ownership of the house. The matter has been in Court for while until it reached the apex Court – the Supreme Court.
At the hearing, Supreme Court Justices noticed something unusual. They then asked the lawyers from both side to address them on it.
The question is – Can the Local Court in Zambia have powers to appoint an Administrator of the deceased estate worthy more than ZMW 3.4 million?
Lawyers from both sides conceded that it cannot.
“It is quite clear to us, that Local Court had exceeded its jurisdiction by granting Letters of Administration in an estate whose value exceeds fifty thousand Kwacha,” the Judges said.
“The Local Court had no jurisdiction to grant Letters of Administration for a property valued at ZMW 3,450,00…” the Judges said, adding that only estate value of ZMW50,000 falls under the Local Courts powers.
Therefore, they declared the entire transaction of the house as a nullity because the Administrator did not have power using the Local Court papers.
“It follows that, the appellant had no authority to transfer the property into her name or pledge it as collateral for a loan,” the Judges ruled.
Further, the Court discovered another shocker!
The State Consent that was used to change ownership of the house by the Chinese money lenders had expired and therefore invalid.
It was more than one year old contrary to the law. One wonders how the Ministry of Lands processed those documents when the Consent had expired!
Always check the value of the property left by the deceased before deciding which Court to obtain the Letters of Administration as well as Probate.
My personal view is that ZMW50,000 is too little and should be increased to enable villagers and poor persons to get the papers at Local Court level for value of up to ZMW 500,000. High Court procedures are cumbersome and expensive!
