SUCCESSION ACT.

Except as provided by this Act, or by any other law for the time being in force, the provisions in this Act shall constitute the law of Uganda applicable to all cases of intestate or testamentary succession.

2. Interpretation.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

(a) "administrator" means a person appointed by a court to administer the estate of a deceased person when there is no executor;

(b) "child", "children", "issue" and "lineal descendant" include legitimate, illegitimate and adopted children;

(c) "codicil" means an instrument explaining, altering or adding to a will and which is considered as being part of the will;

(d) "court" means the High Court or a magistrate's court other than a magistrate's court presided over by a magistrate grade II;

(e) "customary heir" means the person recognised by the rites and customs of the tribe or community of a deceased person as being the customary heir of that person;

(f) "daughter" includes a stepdaughter, an illegitimate daughter and a daughter adopted in any manner recognised as lawful by the law of Uganda;

(g) "dependent relative" includes—

(i) a wife, a husband, a son or daughter under 18 years of age or a son or daughter of or above 18 years of age who is wholly or substantially dependent on the deceased;

(ii) a parent, a brother or sister, a grandparent or grandchild who, on the date of the deceased's death, was wholly or substantially dependent on the deceased for the provision of the ordinary necessaries of life suitable to a person of his or her station;

(h) "executor" means a person appointed in the last will of a deceased person to execute the terms of the will;

(i) "grandchild" means a son or daughter of a son or daughter;

(j) "grandparent" means a parent of a parent;

(k) "husband" means a person who at the time of the intestate's death was—

(i) validly married to the deceased according to the laws of Uganda; or

(ii) married to the deceased in another country by a marriage recognised as valid by any foreign law under which the marriage was celebrated;

(l) "illegitimate child" means an illegitimate child recognised or accepted by the deceased as a child of his or her own;

(m) "immovable property" includes land, incorporeal tenements and things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to things attached to the earth;

(n) "legal heir" means the living relative nearest in degree to an intestate under the provisions set out in Part III to this Act together with and as varied by the following provisions—

(i) between kindred of the same degree a lineal descendant shall be preferred to a lineal ancestor and a lineal ancestor shall be preferred to a collateral relative and a paternal ancestor shall be preferred to a maternal ancestor;

(ii) where there is equality under subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, a male shall be preferred to a female;

(iii) where there is equality under subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph, the elder shall be preferred to the younger;

(iv) if no legal heir is existing and reasonably ascertainable under subparagraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) of this paragraph, the husband or the senior wife of the intestate, as the case may be, shall be the legal heir;

(o) "minor" means any person who has not attained the age of twenty-one years, and "minority" means the status of such person;

(p) "movable property" means property of every description except "immovable property";

(q) "parent" includes a stepparent and an adoptive parent;

(r) "personal representative" means the person appointed by law to administer the estate or any part of the estate of a deceased person;

(s) "probate" means the grant by a court of competent jurisdiction authorising the executor named in the testator's last will to administer the testator's estate;

(t) "residential holding" has the meaning assigned to it by section 26;

(u) "senior wife", in the case of a polygamous marriage, means the wife who was married first in time to the deceased intestate;

(v) "son" includes a stepson, an illegitimate son and a son adopted in a manner recognised as lawful by the law of Uganda;

(w) "wife" means a person who at the time of the intestate's death was—

(i) validly married to the deceased according to the laws of Uganda; or

(ii) married to the deceased in another country by a marriage recognised as valid by any foreign law under which the marriage was celebrated.

3. Interests and powers not acquired nor lost by marriage.

No person shall, by marriage, acquire any interest in the property of the person whom he or she marries, nor become incapable of doing any act in respect of his or her own property which he or she could have done if unmarried.

PART II
DOMICILE.

4. Succession to a deceased person's immovable and movable property.

(1) Succession to the immovable property in Uganda of a person deceased is regulated by the law of Uganda, wherever that person may have had his or her domicile at the time of his or her death.

(2) Succession to the movable property of a person deceased is regulated by the law of the country in which that person had his or her domicile at the time of his or her death.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), a person dying intestate shall be deemed to have had his or her domicile in Uganda if—

(a) for a period of not less than two years preceding his or her death that person was ordinarily resident in Uganda; and

(b) he or she was survived by a spouse or child who was, at the time of his or her death, ordinarily resident in Uganda.

5. Domicile in respect of succession to movables.

A person can have one domicile only for the purpose of succession to his or her movable property.

6. Domicile of origin of a person of legitimate birth.

The domicile of origin of every person of legitimate birth is in the country in which, at the time of his or her birth, his or her father is domiciled, or, if he or she is a posthumous child, in the country in which his or her father was domiciled at the time of the father's death.

7. Domicile of origin of an illegitimate child.

The domicile of origin of an illegitimate child is in the country in which, at the time of his or her birth, his or her mother was domiciled.

8. Continuance of domicile of origin.

The domicile of origin prevails until a new domicile has been acquired.

9. Acquisition of a new domicile.

A man acquires a new domicile by taking up his fixed habitation in a country which is not that of his domicile of origin; except that a man is not to be considered as having taken up his fixed habitation in Uganda merely by reason of his residing there in the exercise of any profession or calling.

10. Special mode of acquiring domicile in Uganda.

Any person may acquire a domicile in Uganda by making and depositing in some office in Uganda to be appointed by the Minister a declaration in writing under his or her hand of his or her desire to acquire such domicile, provided that he or she has been resident in Uganda for one year immediately preceding the time he or she makes the declaration.

11. Domicile not acquired by residence as representative of a foreign Government, etc.

A person who is appointed by the Government of one country to be its ambassador, consul or other representative in another country does not acquire a domicile in the latter country by reason only of residing there in pursuance of the appointment, nor does any other person acquire such domicile by reason only of residing with that person as part of his or her family or as a servant.

12. Continuance of a new domicile.

A new domicile continues until the former domicile has been resumed or another has been acquired.

13. Minor's domicile.

(1) Subject to subsection (2), the domicile of a minor follows the domicile of the parent from whom the minor derived his or her domicile of origin.

(2) The domicile of a minor does not change with that of the minor's parent if the minor is married, or holds any office or employment in the service of the Government, or has set up, with the consent of the parent, in any distinct business.

14. Domicile of a married woman.

By marriage a woman acquires the domicile of her husband, if she had not the same domicile before.

15. Wife's domicile during marriage.

(1) Subject to subsection (2), the domicile of a wife during the marriage follows the domicile of her husband.

(2) The domicile of a wife no longer follows that of her husband if they are separated by the sentence of a competent court.

16. Minor's acquisition of a new domicile.

Except as provided in section 13, a person cannot during minority acquire a new domicile.

17. Lunatic's acquisition of a new domicile.

An insane person cannot acquire a new domicile in any other way than by his or her domicile following the domicile of another person.

18. Succession to movable property in Uganda.

If a man dies leaving movable property in Uganda, in the absence of proof of any domicile elsewhere, succession to the property is regulated by the law of Uganda.

PART III
CONSANGUINITY.

19. Kindred or consanguinity.

Kindred or consanguinity is the connection or relation of persons descended from the same stock or common ancestor.

20. Lineal consanguinity.

(1) Lineal consanguinity is that which subsists between two persons, one of whom is descended in a direct line from the other as between a man and his father, grandfather, great-grandfather and so upwards in the direct ascending line, or between a man, his son, grandson, great-grandson and so downwards in the direct descending line.

(2) Every generation constitutes a degree, either ascending or descending; a man's father is related to him in the first degree, and so likewise is his son; his grandfather and grandson in the second degree; his great-grandfather and great-grandson in the third.

21. Collateral consanguinity.

(1) Collateral consanguinity is that which subsists between two persons who are descended from the same stock or ancestor, but neither of whom is descended in a direct line from the other.

(2) For the purpose of ascertaining in what degree of kindred any collateral relative stands to a person deceased, it is proper to reckon upwards from the person deceased, to the common stock, and then downwards to the collateral relative, allowing a degree for each person, both ascending and descending.

22. Persons held for the purpose of succession to be similarly related to the deceased.

For the purposes of succession, there is no distinction between those who are—

(a) related to the deceased by the full blood and those who are related to the deceased by the half blood; or

(b) born during the deceased's lifetime and those who are conceived in the womb at the date of death and subsequently born alive.

23. Mode of computing degrees of kindred.

(1) In the table of kindred in the First Schedule to this Act, the degrees are computed as far as the sixth, and are marked by numeral figures.

(2) The person whose relatives are to be reckoned and his cousin-german or first cousin are, as shown in the table, related in the fourth degree, there being one degree of ascent to the father, and another to the common ancestor, the grandfather, and from him one of descent to the uncle, and another to the cousin-german, making in all four degrees.

(3) A grandson of the brother and a son of the uncle, that is, a great-nephew and cousin-german, are in equal degree, being each four degrees removed.

(4) A grandson of a cousin-german is in the same degree as the grandson of a great-uncle, for they are both in the sixth degree of kindred.

PART IV
INTESTACY.

24. Property of a deceased dying intestate.

A person dies intestate in respect of all property which has not been disposed of by a valid testamentary disposition.

25. Devolution of property of a deceased dying intestate.

All property in an intestate estate devolves upon the personal representative of the deceased upon trust for those persons entitled to the property under this Act.

PART V
DISTRIBUTION OF AN INTESTATE'S PROPERTY.

26. Devolution of residential holdings.

(1) The residential holding normally occupied by a person dying intestate prior to his or her death as his or her principal residence or owned by him or her as a principal residential holding, including the house chattels therein, shall be held by his or her personal representative upon trust for his or her legal heir subject to the rights of occupation and terms and conditions set out in the Second Schedule to this Act.

(2) Any other residential holding possessed by the intestate at his or her death shall be held by his or her personal representative upon trust and, subject to the rights of occupation and terms and conditions set out in the Second Schedule to this Act, shall be dealt with in accordance with the remaining provisions of this Part.

(3) Any dispute arising as to the exact area of any portion of land subject to this section or as to what person has the right to occupy the land or any part of it shall be settled by the personal representative.

(4) Any person who is aggrieved by any decision of the personal representative under subsection (3) may appeal from the decision to a magistrate.

27. Distribution on the death of a male intestate.

(1) Subject to sections 29 and 30, the estate of a person dying intestate, excepting his principal residential holding, shall be divided among the following classes in the following manner—

(a) where the intestate is survived by a customary heir, a wife, a lineal descendant and a dependent relative—

(i) the customary heir shall receive 1 percent;

(ii) the wives shall receive 15 percent;

(iii) the dependent relative shall receive 9 percent;

(iv) the lineal descendants shall receive 75 percent of the whole of the property of the intestate,

but where the intestate leaves no person surviving him capable of taking a proportion of his property under paragraph (a) (ii) or (iii) of this paragraph, that proportion shall go to the lineal descendants;

(b) where the intestate is survived by a customary heir, a wife and a dependent relative but no lineal descendant—

(i) the customary heir shall receive 1 percent;

(ii) the wife shall receive 50 percent; and

(iii) the dependent relative shall receive 49 percent,

of the whole of the property of the intestate;

(i) the customary heir shall receive 1 percent; and

(ii) the wife or the dependent relative, as the case may be, shall receive 99 percent,

of the whole of the property of the intestate;

(d) where the intestate leaves no person surviving him, other than a customary heir, capable of taking a proportion of his property under paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of this subsection, the estate shall be divided equally between those relatives in the nearest degree of kinship to the intestate;

(e) if no person takes any proportion of the property of the intestate under paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d) of this subsection, the whole of the property shall belong to the customary heir;

(f) where there is no customary heir of an intestate, the customary heir's share shall belong to the legal heir.

(2) Nothing in this section shall prevent the customary heir from taking a further share in the capacity of a lineal descendant if entitled to it in that capacity.

(3) Nothing in this or any other section of this Act shall prevent the dependent relatives from making any other arrangement relating to the distribution or preservation of the property of the intestate provided that the arrangement is sanctioned by the court.

28. Distribution between members of the same class.

(1) All lineal descendants, wives and dependent relatives shall be entitled to share their proportion of a deceased intestate's property in equal shares.

(2) Any child of a deceased lineal descendant, whose descent is not traced through any living lineal descendant and who survives the intestate, shall take the share which the deceased lineal descendant would have taken under subsection (1) had he or she survived the intestate.

29. Reservation of a principal residential holding from distribution.

(1) No wife or child of an intestate occupying a residential holding under section 26 and the Second Schedule to this Act shall be required to bring that occupation into account in assessing any share in the property of an intestate to which the wife or child may be entitled under section 27.

(2) No person entitled to any interest in a residential holding under section 26(1) shall be required to bring that interest into account in assessing any share in the property of an intestate to which that person may be entitled under section 27.

30. Separation of husband and wife.

(1) No wife or husband of an intestate shall take any interest in the estate of an intestate if, at the death of the intestate, he or she was separated from the intestate as a member of the same household.

(2) This section shall not apply where such wife or husband has been absent on an approved course of study in an educational institution.

(3) Notwithstanding subsection (

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