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Title: | Who gets the money? Some aspects of testate and intestate succession in Zimbabwe |
Author: | Stewart, J.E.![]() |
Year: | 1989 |
Periodical: | The Zimbabwe Law Review |
Volume: | 7-8 |
Pages: | 85-103 |
Language: | English |
Notes: | biblio. refs. |
Geographic terms: | Zimbabwe Southern Africa |
Subjects: | law of inheritance women law Inheritance family law customary law Roman law |
Abstract: | This is a revised version of a paper on the right to inheritance in Zimbabwe, presented at the second meeting of the Women's Law in Southern Africa Project in Zimbabwe in March 1989. The author has tried to make the paper non sex specific, although women and children are usually the most severely affected by the problems of succession to a deceased's estate. The paper examines the rules governing the distribution of estates in Zimbabwe, both testate and intestate, under either customary law or general law or, as may increasingly be the case, under a combination of both. The right to inherit property in Zimbabwe reflects the dichotomy between the extended family and the nuclear family, and also the conflict between urban or modern lifestyles and the agrarian subsistence base of the communal areas. There is a plethora of legislation which circumscribes the choice of law in matters of inheritance. In so far as testamentary succession is concerned, there is no overt discrimination against women, be they the testator or a beneficiary. But, unfortunately, many women do not know their rights in matters of inheritance. Notes, ref. |