Uganda - Register a Legal Heir Certificate

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Procedure

HOW TO APPLY

1. When a person dies in Uganda or abroad, the agent (appointed by the administrator general) of the area where the death occurred or where the property are located shall, upon receiving notice of the death or upon the death coming to his or her knowledge, forthwith report the death with full particulars of the property to the Administrator General.
   • that the deceased has left a will appointing the Administrator General as sole executor;
   • that the deceased having made a will devising or bequeathing his or her estate or any part of it has omitted to appoint an executor;
   • that the person or persons named as executor or executors in the will have predeceased the testator or renounced probate of the will;
   • that probate or letters of administration have not been obtained within two months from the death of the testator; or
   • that the person died intestate succession i.e. where a person dies without having made a will or the will is invalidated
2. An applicant applying for the legal heir certificate upon full consent of all family members of the deceased, should head to the administrator general offices with all the required document and make a request for the succession certificate.
3. The admiration general will verify the beneficiaries of deceased persons by analysing their family relationship to the deceased and upon satisfactory result,
4. A public notice for application for legal heir certificate is published in the Gazette at least fourteen days
   • Note: Publication is made and given this reasonable period of time to allow anyone who has any objects against the lodged application submit his / her claim to the authorities.
5. When the publication time elapses and not objection is received, the administration general issuing beneficiaries of the deceased with a Certificate of No Objection to enable them to petition for Letters of Administration to the deceased’s estate.
6. The beneficiaries will take the certificate of no objection to the court to petition for the legal heir certificate
7. The registrar in the high court or the magistrate in the magistrate court also investigates to confirm if the applicant is the right person to receive the heir certificate.
8. When confirmation is made, the legal heir certificate is issued by either the registrar in the high court or the magistrate in the magistrate court basing on where application was lodged.

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Required Documents

• Proof of death of a person to be succeeded (A death certificate, postmortem report, and Certificate or LC letter confirming the death of the testator.
• A recommendation from the LC
• Identity Card of applicant
• Signed application form
• Identity/Address proof of the applicant
• A will (in case of one)
• Date of Birth proof of all legal heirs
• A self-undertaking affidavit
• Address proof of the deceased

Office Locations & Contacts

Ministry for Justice & Constitutional Affairs - Head Office ,
Bauman House, Plot 5
Parliament Avenue,
Kampala, Uganda
Address PO Box 7183,
Parliament Avenue,
Kampala
Phone:+256-41 230537/8/9
Fax:+256-41-254829, 230802
Email: [email protected]
Website: Link

Eligibility

• Spouse of the deceased
• Son of the deceased
• Daughter of the deceased
• Mother of the deceased and
• Father of the deceased

Fees

• Fees vary basing on where application is lodged

Validity

• Certificate Valid Forever but can be revoked by the court of law if petition

Documents to Use

Please attach documents that can be used by people. e.g. links

Sample Documents

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Processing Time

About a month or more

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications. 
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type="website">video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the "&" inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver, 
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M" Video ID is "Y0US7oR_t3M". 
	

Instructions

Terms and conditions to consider before applying for the certificate

• A recommendation letter from the LC must clearly indicate that person applying for the heir certificate is a fit and proper person to make the application.
• Before applying, be sure that the deceased did not leave any will;
• Ensure that you submit all required documents while lodging application;
• All family members must agree to the submitted application;
• A legal heir has the responsibility to represent the deceased for all purposes;
• A minor or unsound person must be represented by an authorized elder person;
• Publication of application must not be less than fourteen days.

Required Information

1. Deceased name
2. Applicants name
3. Applicants relationship with the deceased
4. Applicant signature
5. Date of application
6. Residential address of applicant
7. Date, time and place of death of the deceased
8. Details of all family members and relatives staying at the deceaseds home
9. Information explaining the right in which the applicant claims a heir certificate
10. Details of property left by the deceased.

Need for the Document

• A legal heir certificate is issued to a legal heir of the deceased person. When a person dies, the legal heir can apply for the certificate. It is issued to confirm that the holder has the authority to represent the deceased and manage all his / her property left behind.
• The certificate also shows the terms on which the property shall be managed. This legal heir certificate in Uganda is issued after a case hearing in the high court or magistrate’s court.

Information which might help

Under the Uganda law a Legal heir is defined as follows:‐   “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—

• 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;
• where there is equality under subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, a male shall be preferred to a female;
• where there is equality under subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph, the elder shall be preferred to the younger;
• 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 maybe, shall be the legal heir;

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Legal heir certificate is required for the following purpose:

• For transferring properties and assets of the demised person to his successors.
• For claiming insurance.
• For sanctioning and processing family pension of the deceased employee.
• To receive dues such as provident fund, gratuity etc. from the Government
• To receive salary arrears of the deceased, state or central Government employee.
• To gain employment based on compassionate appointments. 

External Links

Administrator General's Act
and justice inheritance tax and law in uganda
suceession act 1906

Others

More information which might help people.