Wills and Inheritance in Uganda (2026): Who Gets What When Someone Dies

Most Ugandan families meet this law at the worst possible moment

Inheritance is the one area of personal finance where the person who needed the information is no longer there to act on it. A family learns how Uganda's succession law works in the week after a funeral, usually from a relative who is confident and wrong — and by then the land has been shared out at a family meeting, someone has emptied the bank account, and a widow has been told to leave the house.

Uganda substantially rewrote this law in 2022, and little of what changed has reached common knowledge. If your understanding of who inherits what comes from how it was done in your family a decade ago, it is out of date — and several of the new rules carry criminal penalties, not just civil ones.

The law that changed everything: Act 3 of 2022

The governing statute is the Succession Act, cited in the amending legislation as Cap. 162 — though Uganda's more recent revised editions renumber many chapters, so do not be thrown if a copy shows a different number.

It was heavily amended by the Succession (Amendment) Act, 2022 (Act 3 of 2022), published as Acts Supplement No. 3 to The Uganda Gazette No. 28, Volume CXV. The gazetted text carries a date of assent of 10 April 2022 and a date of commencement of 31 May 2022.

The amendment exists because the Constitutional Court, in Law Advocacy for Women in Uganda v Attorney General (Constitutional Petitions Nos. 13 of 2005 and 05 of 2006), struck down several provisions as discriminatory on the basis of sex — including section 27, which set out how an intestate estate is divided. For roughly fifteen years afterwards there was no statutory formula at all. Act 3 of 2022 filled that hole.

If you die without a will, here is exactly who gets what

Section 27 as replaced sets out five situations. In every one of them the residential holding is dealt with separately and is not part of the pot being divided.

Survived by a spouse, lineal descendants, dependent relatives and a customary heir:

No surviving spouse or dependent relative able to take:

Spouse, dependent relative and customary heir, but no lineal descendant:

A customary heir plus either a spouse or a dependent relative, and no lineal descendant: the customary heir takes 1%, and the spouse or dependent relative takes 99%.

Nobody surviving but a customary heir: the estate is divided equally between the relatives nearest in kinship.

Within each class, members share equally. A child who died before the deceased passes their portion to their own children. "Lineal descendant" now runs six degrees downwards, so grandchildren and great-grandchildren are inside it — and a customary heir who is also a child takes a child's share in addition to the 1%.

The 20% that is never distributed

Before any of that is worked out, section 27(2) holds 20% of the estate in trust for the education, maintenance and welfare of three groups: minor children; children over 18 but under 25 who were studying and unmarried when the person died; and children with a disability who were unmarried and wholly dependent on the deceased. The Act is explicit that this comes off the gross estate before the percentage split, and that whatever the children do not need flows back into the estate for everyone else.

Separation and remarriage

A surviving spouse who was separated from the deceased as a member of the same household takes nothing — unless the absence was for an approved course of study, or the deceased caused the separation. A court can also be asked, within six months of the death, to disapply the rule for good cause. Children of that marriage keep their entitlement either way.

Remarriage works differently from what most people expect: a spouse who remarries before the estate is distributed still receives their full share. What remarriage ends is the right to keep living in the home.

The family home is not yours to give away

This is the most consequential change in the Act, and it bites on people who do write wills. Where the testator is married or has children, section 36(6) provides that the residential holding they normally occupied as a principal residence — including the chattels in it — does not form part of the property they can dispose of by will. It is held by the personal representative on trust for the spouses and lineal descendants. The only escape, in section 36(9), is having made reasonable provision for the accommodation of those who would otherwise occupy it.

Under the Second Schedule, the people entitled to occupy are those who normally lived there: the spouse; a minor child; a lineal descendant over 18 who is studying; and a lineal descendant with a disability, until the disability ends. A spouse's occupancy ends on remarriage, or if they voluntarily leave, or if they misuse the property and bring it into disrepute. On the surviving spouse's death the home passes equally to the lineal descendants as tenants in common.

Two protections sit alongside it:

• Evicting or attempting to evict someone entitled to occupy is a criminal offence: a fine of up to 168 currency points — UGX 3,360,000, at the Act's own rate of UGX 20,000 per currency point — or up to seven years, or both.
• Debts the deceased charged against the residential property during the marriage, without the written consent of the spouse who shared it, are void and cannot be paid out of the estate.

Living in the family home also does not count against your share. A widow in the house still takes her full 20%.

Writing a will that will actually survive

Under section 50(c) as amended, each witness must, in the testator's presence, sign and write their name and address on every page. Witnesses no longer need to be present at the same time as each other. If a witness omits their name or address from a page, section 50(2) makes that page void — the rest survives — unless a court directs otherwise. Wills made before commencement are protected by section 341(5).

Four other points decide real cases:

• A will is void to the extent it was produced by fraud, undue influence, duress, coercion, mistake of fact, or abuse of a position of trust or vulnerability.
• A beneficiary or executor can witness a will. A person who wrote or prepared it cannot — except an advocate.
• You must make reasonable provision for the maintenance of your spouse, lineal descendants and dependent relatives. Dispose of everything without doing so and a court can order provision anyway. Leaving family out does not work; it just moves the fight to court.
• Either parent may appoint a guardian for a child by will — and if you name a guardian but no executor, that guardian becomes your executor.

If your estate is mostly a salary, a pension entitlement and a home, read this with NSSF Uganda, explained — an NSSF benefit passes separately from your will — and DPF deposit protection, which sets what is recoverable from a bank account if the bank itself fails. Where land is the main asset, the title checks in buying a home in Uganda are the same ones your administrator will have to survive.

After a death: the grant, and the clock

Nobody can lawfully deal with an estate until the court issues a grant — probate where a will names an executor, letters of administration where it does not.

1. Certificate of no objection. The Administrator General, in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, vets intending administrators and issues this clearance before you petition. Under the new section 201A a surviving spouse now has preference over any other person to administer a deceased spouse's intestate estate, which the Administrator General may set aside only if the spouse is not fit and proper or the estate's circumstances require it. Ask the office which documents your case needs.
2. Petition the right court. A small estate can go to a magistrate's court rather than the High Court, under the Administration of Estates (Small Estates) (Special Provisions) Act — amended, the Uganda Law Reform Commission records, by Act No. 5 of 2022 to raise the value ceilings. Ask the registry for the current ceiling: understating an estate can get the grant revoked later for want of jurisdiction.
3. Deadlines. An executor must apply for probate within one year of the death, or a beneficiary may apply with the will annexed. Anyone lodging a caveat must serve you within 14 days, and within six months the matter must move forward or both caveat and petition lapse.
4. A grant now expires. Probate and letters of administration last two years, extendable only where it serves the beneficiaries, the holder has complied with the Act, and all beneficiaries consent. The Commission notes a High Court Family Division notice of 21 August 2023 applying this to older grants from 10 April 2022 — the assent date, not the 31 May 2022 commencement printed on the gazetted Act. If you hold a pre-2022 grant, ask the registry which date governs you.
5. You cannot sell estate property alone. Disposal needs the written consent of the surviving spouse and all lineal descendants, a guardian consenting for a minor. Beneficiaries get first option to buy, and any disposal in breach is void.

Intermeddling: the offence families commit without knowing

Section 268 is the provision most likely to catch a well-meaning relative. If you do not hold a grant and are not the Administrator General, taking possession of or disposing of a deceased person's property — or doing anything else belonging to the office of executor or administrator — is intermeddling, carrying a fine of up to 1,000 currency points, UGX 20,000,000, or ten years, or both, plus personal liability for any loss.

The Act does carve out what families genuinely need to do. Before a grant you may take possession of estate property to preserve the estate, pay for the funeral, provide the family's immediate necessities, prudently keep the deceased's business running, or receive money owed. Two conditions are strict: the window is three months from the date of death, or until a grant issues, whichever comes first, and you must immediately report the property and what you did to the Administrator General. Hold property past that window and the same maximum penalty applies.

Executors and administrators carry the same exposure once appointed — up to UGX 20,000,000 or three years for misapplying an estate, with the court obliged to order them to make good the loss on top.

The Uganda Law Reform Commission and the Administrator General jointly published a User Guide to Succession in Uganda in June 2023, and the Commission says hard copies are free from its secretariat. For any estate involving land, use an advocate — these penalties are criminal and they attach personally.

Frequently asked questions

Does a customary heir inherit the whole estate? No. The customary heir or heiress takes 1% wherever one exists — plus a child's share if they are also a child of the deceased.

My husband's family says the house is theirs because it is ancestral land. Is it? The Act does not recognise that framing. If you normally lived in the principal residence you are entitled to occupy it, and evicting or trying to evict you is an offence carrying up to seven years or UGX 3,360,000.

Are children born outside marriage treated differently? No. The 2022 Act repealed the words "legitimate, illegitimate and" from the definition of a child. All children have the same rights.

We already shared out my father's property at a family meeting. Was that legal? Almost certainly not, unless someone held a grant. Distributing an estate without probate or letters of administration is intermeddling under section 268 — up to UGX 20,000,000 or ten years, plus personal liability.

Does a will made before 2022 need redoing? The per-page witnessing rule is not retrospective, but the principal-residence and maintenance rules apply to the estate whenever the death occurs, so an old will can still fail to do what it says. Have it reviewed.

Last reviewed 28 September 2026 against the gazetted Succession (Amendment) Act, 2022 (Act 3 of 2022), Acts Supplement No. 3 to The Uganda Gazette No. 28, Volume CXV of 31 May 2022. Shilling amounts are the Act's own currency-point figures at Schedule 1's rate of UGX 20,000 per currency point; the Minister may amend Schedule 1 by statutory instrument, so confirm the rate before relying on a penalty figure. General information, not legal advice.

Sources

• The Succession (Amendment) Act, 2022 (Act 3 of 2022) — gazetted text, Acts Supplement No. 3 to The Uganda Gazette No. 28, Vol. CXV, 31 May 2022. Assent 10 April 2022; commencement 31 May 2022. Every rule, section and currency-point figure above.
• The Succession Act, Cap. 162, as amended by Act 3 of 2022 — the principal Act.
• Uganda Law Reform Commission, "Latest Laws and Amendments on Estates and Succession Management in Uganda", 25th Annual Judges Conference, February 2024 — corroborates the section 27 tables and is the source for the Family Division notice of 21 August 2023, the Small Estates amendment (Act No. 5 of 2022), and the June 2023 User Guide to Succession in Uganda.
• Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Department of Administrator General, paper to the 17th Annual Judges Conference, February 2015 — the office's own account of certificates of no objection, and of the 2007–2022 gap.
• Law Advocacy for Women in Uganda v Attorney General, Constitutional Petitions Nos. 13 of 2005 and 05 of 2006.