Various laws and rulings have set precedent for the country’s policies on marriage and the division of matrimonial property.
The rules were ratified in response to numerous cases filed by disgruntled partners seeking a share of property acquired during a marriage.
On Wednesday, December 28, the High Court’s Family Division, sitting in Mombasa, established that a woman was entitled to a share of her deceased husband’s estate for cohabiting with him for more than five years.
The ruling by Justice John Onyiego established the precedent for come-we-stay relationships, in which couples cohabiting for more than five years could be considered married.
Onyiego cited Section 3(5) of the Law of Succession Act to grant the woman an equal share of the matrimonial property with the deceased first wife.
In another decision, Justice Maureen Odero determined that, while there was little evidence that the man had paid dowry, his actions, which included introducing himself to the woman’s family and living with her for seven years, amounted to marriage.
The disgruntled man had lobbied the court to have the possibility of a marriage annulled because he had not paid a dowry or had any children with the estranged woman.
The court, on the other hand, determined that the couple presented themselves as a married couple, with the woman even taking his surname as a surname.
“Seven years of cohabitation, in my opinion, implies marriage. This was not a passing fling” stated the judge.
