Lusaka family drags lawyer Irene Chongo-Lamba to court over deceased’s estate
A family of lusaka has sued lawyer Irene Chongo-Lamba together with two of their family members in the lusaka High Court for allegedly managing the estate of their late sister Jacqueline Filamba without their consent.
Brother of the late Jacqueline together with his sisters Audrey Kapapa Cathedrine Mwamba and their niece, Sophie Kapapa have sued Lamba and the deceased’s nice Enelesi Nzovwu Lungu and nephew Chongo Nkalamo seeking an order of the court to compelling the defendants to render an account of the manner they administered the estate from December 3,2021 and produce property documents.
They want an order directing Lamba to produce the power of attorney jointly signed by the four executors of the estate authorizing Lamba to unilaterally steward the late Jacqueline’s estate.
In their statement bof claim the plaintiffs said Jacqueline Filamba was admitted to Forest Park Specialized hospital on September 5,2021 and died on September 25,2021 due to an illness.
The plaintiffs stated that on October 5, 2021 Lamba announced to the family that the deceased had left a will and briefly read out part of it relating to the cremation of Jacqueline’s body.
They said their sister was neither survived by a husband nor a child and upon perusal of the said will and testament they discovered that it was executed on March 1, 2021.
“The deceased’s purported will and testament drawn by Messrs Chongo Manda and associates legal practitioners shows that it was purportedly witnessed by Sandra Mutapa and Jane Nakazwe both employees in the law firm as security and office manager,” the plaintiffs said.
“Jacqueline Filamba’s purported last wish shows that the contents of the non existing clauses 18 and 20 coupled with numbering mismatches are unknown.”
They said Lamba and Jacqueline’s brother Anthony and nephew Nkalamo obtained a grant of probate from the High Court family division confirming them as administrators of the estate of the late Jacqueline Filamba.
The plaintiffs said upon perusing their sister and aunt’s emails on her mobile phone they established that Jacqueline had reviewed her will on March 4,2021 and on July 8 Lamba sent Jacqueline a final draft will dated March 1,2021 for her approval.
They stated that Lamba on several occasions since December 3,2021 unilaterally undertaken steps to try and administer Jacqueline’s estate without consultation and knowledge of every executor especially her brother Anthony and declined to give the latter relevant and necessary documents belonging to his sister.
“Contrary to the usual and reasonable practice of joint administration of a deceased’s estate Lamba refuses and has continued to deny Anthony access to some documents and correspondence with various institutions including several financial institutions, debit and credit cards as well as bank statements, constitution and statements for village banking groups relevant to the administration of the estate, certificates of ownership for her motor vehicles and title deeds to some pieces of land,” The plaintiffs said.
“By reason of the foregoing circumstances the plaintiffs have reason to believe that the purported last will and testament of the deceased is a false and fraudulent document duly executed on or after July 11,2021 and not on March 1,2021 and was properly signed hence a nullity.”
They are further seeking an order declaring that the will and testament of Jacqueline Filamba drawn on July 11,2021 but purportedly signed on March 1,2021 is a false and fraudulent document and null and void.
The quartet wants an injunction restraining the defendants from interfering with the estate of the late Jacqueline Filamba including access to her account domiciled at Investrust Bank Ody’s branch on Great East road.
They want an order that the court appoints a registrar of the High Court to take over the administration of the estate.
They are seeking an order directing the chief executive officer of Investrust Bank to furnish them with some documents signed by Jacqueline to constitute part of the forensic handwriting examinations specimen.
They also want an order directing MTN chief executive officer to issue or release the call records on the late Jacqueline Filamba’s mobile phone no. 0966580299 between February 1,2021 and October 5,2021.
Kalemba