Scenario:An old mzee & his wife die leaving behind 10 children and an estate worth approx 100M. Now internal wars develop and lack of trust between the siblings. Though no physical fights its kind of cold war situation some not talking to others. After like 5 years of this stalemate, a decline in fortunes of the estate and the passing of 2 siblings the family agrees to meet monthly to try and come up with a property division formula. The mzee's word was that all his children are equal whether male/female or old/young. Using mediators the family has been meeting but for almost an year now there is one guy who has consistently failed to show up for meetings. The properties to be divided are of different value and in different places. However the siblings have used approximation to value their properties. In some properties 2 ppl will have to share etc. By law once they have agreed on how to share the estate they are supposed to present a list to court showing the same, so that they can be give a confirmation letter of grant.
Big Question: How do they handle this guy who always snubs meetings if he fails to show up in court?
What do they do if he shows up to court and says he does not agree with the other 9 families?

If division is equal among all of them as per mzee's wishes,should there be an issue?
Schedule of distribution of property should be signed by all parties and is filed in court prior to confirmation of grant.
If they cannot get him to sign,that means that there is no agreeement in which case you apply to court to have it distribute the property.

Did he sign the petition in the first place?

How did they proceed to confirmation stage in his absence?Being a child of the deceased,that makes him person of equal priority with the other children who I believe signed the affidavits authorizing the petitioner to apply for the grant.

If you ever want to avoid any legal trouble or win any legal case all you need is evidence and a paper trail. This will save everyone a lot of trouble.

In this case every time a meeting is called for between all the family members let the meeting be scheduled with a letter that is sent to all the members by a verifiable way. If by postal mail let it be by registered mail. If it is by email or sms find a way of filing the same so that you have evidence that everyone was invited.

On the day of the meeting make sure the meeting and all meetings have minutes written down. These include attendance and everything that was discussed. Record everything. If during the attendance the absence of the individual was discussed make sure it is recorded. Now that you have 9 people at the meeting each of them can try and reach out to the missing person to let them know that the meeting has started and find out if they are on the way. All this should be recorded in the minutes including whatever excuses were given for not attending. Now here you have two things, you have the minutes which record everything and also 9 witnesses to attempts to try to reach out to the missing person.

Make sure all deliberations are fair and the person is given his rightful share.

Most important keep all records. Make sure the person is always invited to all meetings and all minutes of all the meetings are sent to him.

You can shout all you want in court but nothing beats good records and witnesses.

Thank you all for the free advice. @Alma & aemathenge they tried the company way but the papers to register the company were torn up by the eldest sibling who later passed. Basically they are just tired of each other.
@Maka I am curious, how expensive is it if they "ask the court to distribute the property" and how long would it take
@Kusadikika Meeting invites are through sms and minutes are always taken but due to the heated debates in these meetings most of the times there are no resolutions to be noted down. Its 80% name calling, mara sijui wewe ndo ulichukua hii, mara wewe ulisema ile etc

Believe me they have tried. This mizozo has made some family members abandon family properties they used to do business in. Other potential land has been left unattended; basically kunamea tu manyasi. Problem is the family kind of is split into 2. The group that collects rent from the few mabati houses that their parents had put up is content because they "eat" without sharing and they are the major absentees during meetings. The others are full of machungu coz of this but the worst is that one guy who never attends meetings. They are stuck because of him

You just do what the other "owner" did to you.....see highlighted above or contact Mawinder

This trick I would recommend if you have proof and evidence to file application before court for contempt. That’s obviously if you had as the matter proceeds had filed for a status quo prayer before the court. Doing 'what the other owner did' is a jungle mentality that should be shunned.Then current rent if any being collected to be deposited in court pending determination of the matter.Then they will come to talk for sure...

13 years is such a long time ......... @maka come and advice!!!!!!

@TSi I reckon you have an advocate already.Youll need to move the court under certificate of urgency n pray that situation as at time litigation started he deteriorated n that as property is attracting rent for court to appoint an agent to collect n deposit n hold me net as a trustee in account where the three parties are signatories n to be remitting a status of account during pendency of case.This will bring all parties to talking table

Boss, courts in Kenya have been known to drag inheritance cases over decades due to their inherent slowness, and the fact that they accept very flimsy rebuttals from family members to postpone verdicts. Is there a benefactor in the family who has handled such amounts of 100m personally before? Maybe he can be trusted as a benevolent dictator of custody.