The Gold Beneath the Dust
Across Uganda, in the heart of every village and at the edge of every city, lies buried wealth—not in the soil, but in silence. Land titles are forgotten in drawers, bank accounts are frozen, land is grabbed, stories are twisted and legacies vanish at burial grounds. When a loved one passes away, their earthly possessions often fall into legal limbo with family members unsure how to access, protect or distribute what was left behind.
This silent crisis has created billions of shillings worth of locked up inheritance—resources that could educate children, build homes or fund businesses. The solution is a legal process too many neglect or misunderstand: applying for Letters of Administration and properly cleaning up the estate of the deceased.
Why Estate Clean-Up Matters
- Preventing conflict and land grabbing. Without formal administration, land and property become easy targets for grabbers, fraudsters or even manipulative family members. Cleaning up the estate restores order, protects rightful beneficiaries and prevents intergenerational wars.
- Unlocking idle wealth. When no one takes legal steps to administer an estate, the deceased’s properties often remain unproductive—whether it is an undeveloped plot or a stalled business. Legal administration unlocks that value for living beneficiaries to use and grow.
- Securing generational legacies. Our elders acquired land, property and reputation with sweat. Failing to administer their estates diminishes their legacy. Proper clean-up ensures their name lives on through well-distributed assets, structured family trusts and documented ownership.
The legal Pathway: How Lawyers Clean-Up Estates
Obtaining Letters of Administration
This is the cornerstone. It is a court-issued document that gives the applicant(s) the legal authority to manage the estate of a deceased who died without a valid
Will (intestate). This process involves: filing a petition in the appropriate court, providing evidence of death (e.g a death certificate), advertising in a newspaper and attending court to finalize the grant.
Identifying and Valuing Estate Assets
After the grant is issued, the administrators work with lawyers to: collect land titles, car logbooks, bank account details; investigate encumbrances (loans, caveats, squatters) and sometimes hire valuers to assess the total worth of the estate.
Companies Rise or Fall on How Well They Renew Their LeadersRecovering and Protecting Property
This is often the lawyer’s most active role. We evict squatters legally but not violently; we lodge caveats or claims on wrongly transferred properties and also negotiate or litigate where property is being contested.
Transferring and Distributing the Estate
Lawyers prepare: mutation & transfer forms; we apply for special titles (where lost) and also draft agreements amongst beneficiaries and other parties to ensure fairness and legal clarity.
Common Challenges (and how to navigate them)
- Missing titles: Lawyers use archives, legal registry records and oral evidence to trace ownership.
- Multiple family lines or polygamy: We guide families into mediation, family meetings or court-led distribution.
Conclusion
Uganda’s wealth is not in foreign aid—it is in the hands of families who steward what was left behind. However, where estates lie in chaos, futures remain in chains. Every time a lawyer helps a widow reclaim her husband’s land, or a son recover his late father’s land title, a tree is planted in the soil of justice. Every letter of administration granted is not just paper—it is a key to legacy, a door to healing and a step towards national development.
Written by Timothy GK Sambwa, Partner at Kibirango & Partners Advocates.
