Kabagambe Gertrude Gladys, Kabagambe Peter Kaganzi & Tusiime Prilla Kabagambe v Stanbic Bank Uganda Limited (Miscellaneous Cause 570 of 2023)

Observed later treatment

Citator coverage is limited to judgments in the Wakilii corpus and source-matched treatment records. Absence of a signal is not an assertion that the case remains good law.

Holding

Court held that executors may access a deceased's bank account despite name discrepancy between probate (Kabagambe Benon) and account name (Kabagambe Ben C.N.) where sufficient evidence shows they refer to the same person. Evidence that pension deposits from employer were paid into the account established identity. Court exercised inherent jurisdiction under Judicature Act s.33 to order bank to grant access and register the letters of probate against the account.

Outcome

Executors granted access to deceased's bank account and letters of probate ordered to be registered with the bank despite name discrepancy

Facts

The applicants were executors of the estate of the late Benon Kabagambe, granted probate on 25 October 2022. The deceased held bank account number 9030001692983 at Stanbic Bank Mbarara Branch in the name Kabagambe Ben C.N., through which he received monthly pension from Mbarara District Local Government. When the executors attempted to access the account using letters of probate issued in the name Benon Kabagambe, the bank refused access due to the name discrepancy between the probate and the account name. The deceased's national identity card bore the name Benon Kabagambe. Bank statements showed monthly pension deposits from Mbarara District Local Government into account 9030001692983 in the name Kabagambe Ben C.N. The executors applied to court under Order 52 Rule 1 CPR seeking an order directing the bank to grant them access to the account.

Issues

1. Whether the Applicants are entitled to access Kabagambe Ben C.N.'s account number 9030001692983 held by the Respondent Bank using letters of probate to the estate of Kabagambe Benon?
2. What remedies are available to the parties where there is a name discrepancy between letters of probate and bank account records?

Orders

• Application granted.
• The Executors of the Estate of the late Kabagambe Benon vide AC 329 of 2022 be granted access to account number 9030001692983 in Stanbic Bank, Mbarara Branch in the names of Kabgambe Ben C.N.
• The letters of Probate to the Estate of the late Kabagambe Benon vide AC 329 of 2022 be registered with the respondent bank in respect to account number 9030001692983 in Stanbic Bank, Mbarara Branch in the names of Kabgambe Ben C.N.
• Each party will cater for its own costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (6)

• Civil Procedure Rules Order 52 Rule 1
• Judicature Act Cap 13 s.33
• Succession (Amendment) Act 2022
• Succession Act s.258(2)
• Succession Act s.279
• Registration of Persons Act 2015 s.36

Cases cited (1)

• Catherine Osupelem v Electoral Commission (Election Petition No. 002 of 2018)

Cases citing this judgment (1)

How later Ugandan judgments in the Wakilii corpus have cited this case. Treatment labels come from Sequitur — Uganda’s citator — each backed by a verbatim span from the citing judgment, and are not an assertion that this case is, or is not, good law.

• Kabagambe and 2 Others v Stanbic Bank Uganda Limited (Misc Cause 570 of 2023)

The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.