Joyce Laboso: Auctioneers knocking on Sh100 million inheritance drama!

Women leave inheritance to their kids leaving out husbands. The late governor was no different… complicating matters

**As the crow flies:** The late Bomet Governor Joyce Laboso and hubby Edwin Abonyo. Joyce left prime properties to her sons-not her husband- opening a legal can of worms. Women leave out husbands in their Wills for several reasons. One is fear their men might remarry shortchanging the kids with a new woman and family. Others never plan to leave hubby anything. Lastly, its feminine psychology to be selfish as women view men as ‘extractive industries’ to be milked while it lasts.

By GW Ngari

Editor-at-Large

@UndercoverKe

Your dear loving wife is unlikely to include you in her Will. Her bank account savings, which are a state secret, have the children listed as next of kin. You are also unlikely to be left as the beneficiary of her Sacco shares, chama savings, plots, farms and even pension and life insurance.

This is increasingly leading to inheritance complications and attendant court battles in cases where the wife dies earlier- with millions at stake.

The husband of the late Bomet Governor Dr Joyce Laboso is currently embroiled in a court case against her family over her Sh100 million estate: Laboso left prime land to her two sons-not hubby Dr Edwin Abonyo-the administrator of her estate.

The inheritance case is being complicated after family land-where Joyce Laboso had a stake (which her sons are entitled)-was used to secure a Sh48 million Stanbic bank loan three years ago. Defaults have led to threats of an auctioneer’s hammer in the next 40 days if it’s not cleared plus accrued interest.

Laboso’s hubby sought limited grant to substitute her name with his-and that is when the rubber met the road

**Only time will tell:** Sisters Mary and Judy Laboso have issues with their late sister’s hubby administering her estate which includes ancestral property-which was not her sole inheritance. Through Sang & Sang Advocates, Judy is demanding fresh re-evaluations of Joyce Laboso’s entire estate-including all properties registered under Edwin Abonyo including the couple’s homes in Kisumu, farms in Fort Ternan, home in Karen, and house in Kilimani.

Before Joyce Laboso succumbed to cancer, in July 2019, she bequeathed her two sons prime agricultural land which she had inherited from her Old Guy, according to court petitions. Laboso was also a beneficiary of another prime family property alongside her younger sister and brother.

At death, her portion was to go to her two sons-who supported Abonyo’s application to be the administrator. Through lawyer Fred Athuok, Abonyo also sought limited grant to substitute Laboso’s name with his. But some properties and shares were held in trust by Joyce on behalf of their late parents Rebecca and Frederick Laboso and her three surviving siblings; Mary, Judy and David Laboso.

And that is where the rubber met the road: Among the properties is 180 acres in Sotik which Judy Laboso accuses Abonyo of having intended to transfer to his two sons. Then there is the 617 acres registered under Itibo Ltd, a family company and whose title deed secured the Sh48 million. The Laboso sons cannot inherit their mother’s share in Itibo Ltd since its facing auctioneers!

Then there is the interesting case of lawyer Eric Kimani who is pitted in court against the family of the late politician William Ntimama

**A quiver full of arrows:** Edwin Abonyo and Joyce Laboso in their early dating years. Her younger sister Judy Laboso wants to be joint administrator of her sister’s estate, but Abonyo’s petition objects on grounds that some properties were acquired during their over 35 years of marriage and were not part of family inheritance!

Matters came to ahead when Laboso’s younger sister, Judy, filed an injunction. She has no issues with Abonyo administering her sister’s properties: a commercial plot in Bomet, land and a house in Nakuru, land in Sotik and Kitale, Parliament Sacco, Egerton University Pension Scheme and money held in three bank accounts.

In her substantive suit papers filed at the Milimani Law Courts, Judy has issues with Abonyo touching on ‘ancestral properties’ which include land in Kericho, a residential house in Sotik and their mother’s shares in Itibo Ltd, KCB and various cooperatives. The case will be mentioned on March 24.

Kimani is the natural administrator now demanding Sh50 million as next of kin-but the Ntimama’s are having none of it!

**A prisoner of birth:** The late Vivian Ntimama inheritance was left to her children who are under 18 and can’t execute the Will. Her husband is her next of kin but was not mentioned as a beneficiary opening another can of legal worms.

Then there is the interesting case of city lawyer Eric Kimani who is pitted in court against the family of the late politician William Ntimama who left his family a Sh2 billion inheritance comprising huge tracts of land, property, shares and real estate. His wife, Vivian Talash Ntimama, one of Ntimama’s seven children, died, of a suspected heart attack while showering, on February 1, 2020.

Her three children were left as beneficiaries of her Sh100 million inheritance, according to Ntimama’s Will. The children are below 18. Kimani is the natural administrator now demanding Sh50 million as next of kin-but the Ntimama’s are having none of it! Vivian also left a separate account with Sh12 million besides co-ownership of a flat in London alongside her mother and sister Debra Sanaipei.

The ongoing court cases point to long-running bad blood

**A matter of honour:** The late politician William Ole Ntimama left spouses of his children in his Will. He also instructed that the inheritance in land and property was never to be subdivided or sold, but be passed down generations of Ntimamas. He also asked that they avoid inheritance court battles.

Vivian’s children-with Kimani as administrator and next of kin- are also in line to inherit their grandmother’s 352 acres in the Mara, her Lavington home and Sh50 million Britam shares.

Kimani argues he tried finding a middle ground but the Ntimamas have been snubbing him. He lodged a petition locking out anyone from interfering with Vivian’s estate until the Succession case is heard and determined.

The court cases point to long-running bad blood if the counter lawsuits, injunctions and accusations are anything to go by.