Ssentambule Levi v Sekijumba Samuel Masajjage and Another (Miscellaneous Application 15 of 2025)

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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

The High Court granted the application for extension of time to file inventory and final account in an administration cause. The court held that delays occasioned by third-party interference, obstruction by persons claiming creditor interests, properties situated outside the court's jurisdiction requiring bureaucratic processes, and unresolved creditor claims constituted sufficient cause for granting an extension. The applicant was given thirty days to file the inventory and sixty days to file the final account. The prayer for a provisional inventory was denied as unnecessary.

Outcome

Application granted with directions for filing inventory and final account within specified timelines

Facts

The applicant, Ssentambule Levi, obtained Letters of Administration for the estate of the late Samuel Ssekijumba on 19 November 2012. In attempting to establish and ascertain all properties forming part of the estate, the applicant encountered multiple obstacles: estate properties were heavily encumbered with squatters, unknown persons claiming to be creditors obstructed his duties, and some properties including bank accounts were situated outside the court's jurisdiction requiring technical and bureaucratic processes. The applicant spent considerable time harmonizing estate properties, paying off debts to creditors, and resolving squatter issues. By the time of the application, the applicant had concluded the squatter issues, distributed property to beneficiaries, and accounted for all estate properties. The statutory six-month period for filing inventory and one-year period for filing final account had long expired, necessitating this application for extension of time.

Issues

1. Whether the applicant should be granted leave and an extension of time to file an inventory and final account in Administration Cause No. 127 of 2011.
2. Whether a provisional inventory should be filed by the administrator of the estate.
3. Whether the costs of the application should be borne by the estate.

Orders

• Application granted.
• Applicant shall file the inventory within thirty (30) days from the date of this ruling.
• Applicant shall file the final account within sixty (60) days from the date of this ruling.
• No order as to costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (10)

• Succession Act Cap. 268 s.273(1)
• Succession Act Cap. 268 s.275(1)
• Succession Act Cap. 268 s.278(1)
• Judicature Act Cap. 13 s.33
• Civil Procedure Act Cap. 71 s.96
• Civil Procedure Act Cap. 71 s.98
• Civil Procedure Act Cap. 282 s.98
• Civil Procedure Rules SI 71-1 Order 52 Rules 1, 2 and 3
• Civil Procedure Rules Order 51 Rule 6
• Constitution of the Republic of Uganda 1995 Article 126(2)(e)

Cases cited (3)

• In the Matter of the Estate of the Late Baija Jennifer (Miscellaneous Application No. 0071 of 2024)
• Abubaker Sebalamu Ganya v Yasmin N (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 14 of 2017)
• Re: The Estate of the Late Atwiine Sharon (Miscellaneous Application No. 81 of 2023)

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