How unwritten wills jeopardize family properties

ARUSHA: Over 90 percent of inheritance-related cases registered at the High Court in Tanzania are without written wills, the High Court Judge from Iringa Ilvin Mugeta, reveals.

Speaking during CRDB bank shareholders’ seminar held in Arusha on Friday, Justice Mugeta said that of all inheritance cases presented to the court by citizens, only three percent have written wills.

Additionally, he said that 99.9 percent of cases presented at the primary court are without written wills, leading to significant conflicts among relatives when deciding on property division. Given this fact, Justice Mugeta advised citizens to write their wills not only for the protection of their wealth but also to avoid such conflicts in the future.

Elaborating on the importance of writing a will, he said that between 2003 and 2008, more than 430 million Tanzanian shillings of dividends to CRDB shareholders lacked owners and became the government’s property in accordance with the law.