How families will share wealth when spouse dies

A spouse who dies without a will (intestate), forfeits 20 per cent of his or her wealth to the surviving partner according to a new Bill passed by Parliament on Tuesday.
The Succession Amendment Bill, 2018, a brainchild of Ms Rosette Kajungu Mutambi, the Mbarara District Woman Member of Parliament, if assented to by the President will address lacunas in the Succession Act, 1906, and also align with Article 32 of the Constitution. The Bill is intended to settle the management of estates of spouses who pass away without Wills. 

Male MPs reject 50 per cent
During the consideration of the Bill, MPs rejected the proposal to increase the fraction from the 15 per cent in the old law to 50 per cent. 
The MPs, especially men, raised the red flag during the second reading of the Bill early this month, something that led to the Office of the Attorney General and the private mover to sit down for harmonisation. 
The Bill has maintained the share for children at 75 per cent and reduced dependents share from 9 per cent to 4 per cent. But, the share for the customary heir has remains at 1 per cent.

In upholding Article 32 of the Constitution, which provides for affirmative action, the new law gives women the right to dispose of properties they individually acquired during their marriage without consulting their husbands.
“It is a landmark piece of legislation that is aimed at bring harmony in homes because there will be equality,” Ms Kajungu said.
 
Bill contradicts sharia law
The Bill MPs passed, however, contradicts the tenets of Islamic faith under “Fara’id” also known as “Mirath” that guides the distribution of two-thirds of a deceased person’s property or wealth whether he or she left behind a Will or not.  
This property must be distributed as per the Quranic requirements to your remaining heirs, which includes your spouse, children and parents (and possibly others depending on who is living at the time of the death).

Under Islamic law, one cannot disinherit any of the beneficiaries since Allah (God) already allocated a specific formula for inheritance in the Quran. Even if a spouse wants to give all his or her property to a charitable cause, he or she is only permitted to do so with the consent of all of the heirs after death. 
For Muslims in Uganda and other parts of the world, property inheritance issues are governed by Sharia law. Unlike other cultures or secular laws, where a person may freely give their property as they choose, Islamic law governs who can receive your wealth, and in what proportions (see the fractions in the utility).

What the Bill says
But in the proposed law, Parliament has provided for the protection of a principal residence or matrimonial home from being sold by a surviving spouse or children. This law has not limited the principal home to only one house but all residences the spouses owned shall not be put in the Will. They must remain in the care of the surviving spouse and the children under the age of 18 or those still in school.  

Unlike in the old law, there will no longer be illegitimate children in homes because the new law now recognises them as children of the deceased. These include children born outside the wedlock and adopted children, and they will also partake of the 75 per cent share of the property when their father dies. 
Under the Bill, the caretakers installed by families members or relatives to look after the assets, will not have a right to own the properties but only manage them until the children are of age. 

The proposed law also provides for an offence for customary heir who will mismanaged properties of the deceased before acquiring probate letters. Upon conviction, such a person will be jailed for seven years without an option of a fine. 
Mr Jacob Oboth-Oboth (NRM, West Budama South), who chairs the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, that processed the Bill, said majority of the people don’t leave Wills and their properties have been mismanaged by the clan heads and relatives, leaving the surviving spouses and children with nothing. 

Mr Oboth-Oboth said most families have been thrown into controversies where children fight for properties since the deceased person(s) has left no Will to guide on the distribution. 
The consensus in the House was that the new succession law would save families from conflicts that arise from men who sideline some of the children or wives from sharing on the property for reasons best known to themselves. 

“But when you make a Will, the law says you cannot dispose of all your property without giving your wife and all the children,” the committee chairperson said.
Parliament has also provide in the new law the second witness to sign at the back of the Will to avoid cases of forgery that has always resulted into fights once the testator is dead.  

Sharia law

1. A surviving husband receives one-half of the assets involved.
2. A surviving husband receives one-fourth of the assets if he has children.
3. A surviving wife receives one-fourth of the assets involved.
4. A surviving wife receives one-eighth of the assets if she has children.
5. The deceased person’s mother and father will receive one-sixth of a share each.
6. If the deceased person has children, the remaining shares will go to the children in a 2:1 ration for sons and daughters.
7. Sons receive two shares for every one share that a daughter gets.
8. These ratios can change slightly depending on the number of people involved.
9. A paternal grandfather can only inherit if the father is deceased. 
10. A brother will only inherit if specific individuals are deceased.