Women must write wills – minister
WOMEN should consider writing wills for the smooth distribution of their personal and family property, Minister of Justice Minister Given Lubinda has said.
Mr Lubinda said the o ce of the Adminstrator General had in the last few years administered more male than female intestate cases.
“In 2017 the Administrator General administered 107 intestate cases of which 93 were for male and 14 for female. In 2018, the Administrator General administered 98 estates for male and 18 for female bring the total number to 116,” Mr Lubinda said.
He said the low numbers of women taking wills represented the gender inequalities in Zambia.
“ e majority of women die intestate and without any property. What that also indicates is that most likely, the surviving spouses just grab everything that belonged to the dead woman and they even claim it’s their property. erefore, there is need for women to write wills the same way that men do,” Mr Lubinda said.
And Mr Lubinda has called on women with children outside wedlock to ensure they are also covered in their father’s will.
He said children born outside marriage were subjected to misery at the death of their mother, without recognition from the family of their father.
“We have had so many cases coming from children who could have not been in the will because they are considered to have been born out of wedlock. It is the duty of the mothers of children born out of wedlock to protect the right the children by ensuring that they are also adequately registered,” he said