How to Write a Will in Kenya

A will  is a document which provides of how property will be distributed after death and must meet some formal requirements as provided by the laws of state. The will can also be called a testament. It may include anything to property to estate to chattels or anything else apart from patents.

The maker of the will must be of majority age that is 18years and above and of sound mind and the writer must not be under any form of duress. A will can be written at any point in life and one does not have to wait for catastrophe to strike for one to draft a will. Drafting a will gives one a say on how his or her property or estate will be distributed and who may administer your estate. The person to administer the estate or property during the time of administration is known as the “executor”. Where there is no will the court must determine who the legal heirs are and then distribute the estate to them. A will maybe changed and altered to include or exclude.

One may distribute his or her estate according to their wishes and their wish is to be respected but this will is not absolute. If one is a viable heir and their name is not included in the will he or she might move the court to consider include them during property distribution. However some facts have to be considered before the court makes the decision; for instance what relation is there between the accused and the complainant. The court has to be convinced before it exercises its discretion the mater.

A will must A necessarily be drafted by an advocate for it to be legally enforceable. It needs only some essentials to make it valid.

A will has to have the full description of the person drafting it. This is inclusive of;

• The full names of the person
• The identification number of the same
• The address
• Location
• What the person does as means of livelihood.

Also one has to give full description of the subject matter in question. I.e. if it a car one has to fuly describe the registration number of the car the color of the car, the make    and so on.

One has also to include an alternative. That is in case the named executor also passes on there is an alternative on who is to be the administrator of the said estate or who is to take care of the minors after the administrator passes on.

The will has to be date. That is the date in which it was drafted has to be included on the will for clarity and reference purposes.

Witnesses in the writing and signing of the will are very essential. Basically they are meant to authenticate and ascertain that the will was not forged and reaffirm that the expressed wishes on the document is the will of the deceased and are to be respected as written. The witnesses have to be of sound mind as they append their signature also must have attained the majority age. They also have to give particulars of themselves. This will be enough to make your will valid.