By Dickson Jere
A deceased left children including a step daughter who is the child of his wife. The deceased had five children from his first marriage but later remarried another woman who came with her child named Rebecca.
It was contended that the step daughter cannot inherit from the estate of the deceased because her biological father was alive and that she was not formally adopted by the deceased to be his child.
The matter went to the High Court for determination. The Judge ruled that the step daughter can and should inherit part of the estate of the deceased. This Judgment prompted an appeal in the Court of Court.
A panel or three Judges analysed the case and concluded that the law does not provide for the step children to inherit from the estate of their step parents unless they were formally adopted.
“There is no evidence adduced to show that Rebecca as adopted by the deceased for purposes of being classified as a beneficiary of the deceased estate,” the Judges observed.
“Therefore, she does not come anywhere near being a child of the deceased,” the Judges ruled and reversed the High Court Judgment that had allowed the stepchild to benefit.
The Court of Appeal further clarified that the law only provides for the children of the deceased, including those born out of wedlock as well as those adopted or conceived but not yet born.
“It is not in issue, that the child in issue was born prior to the marriage between the Appellant and the deceased, and from another man, who is said to be alive,” the Judges observed.
“The closest she comes to be a beneficiary of the estate is, if she was dependent of the deceased,” the Court said but concluded that she did not meet the threshold of being a dependent.
“We substitute it with the holding that Rebecca is nit a beneficiary entitled to the share of the deceased because she is not a child or dependent of the deceased,” the Court ruled.
The Court concluded and ordered that the stepchild should not benefit from the deceased of the late stepfather.
Case citation – Clara Chimfwembe v Hellen Chimfwembe CAZ 015/2021 and Judgement passed last week in the Court of Appeal.
A very interesting case which bring out the requirement of formal adoption of children instead of relying on the African style of taking care of stepchildren without the due legal process.
