Inheritance-induced familial disputes in north-west Ethiopia: the role of legal-policy gaps and aggravating socio-economic dynamics

Abstract

While Ethiopia has had family and inheritance laws since the 1960s, inheritance disputes among family members have exacerbated and the intended goals of protecting the security of property rights among marginalized family members have not been attained. Here, we explore the impact of legal-policy gaps and socio-economic dynamics in family inheritance disputes from the perspectives of litigants and lawyers. A mixed research approach was employed to investigate the distribution of conflicts across kinship ties and property types as well as to explore the experiences and feelings from both disputing parties and legal professionals involved in the conflict. Furthermore, data from closed court cases were scrutinized in order to identify disputants as well as substantiate the primary data. Our findings reveal that extended time to claim inheritance rights, absence time limit for establishing child status, unrestricted cancellation of wills and provisions for multiple wills on a single property, incompatibility between customary and statutory law, and limited opportunity for land acquisition, are all legal and policy gaps that overwhelmingly contribute to inheritance-induced familial disputes. The improvement in the legal consciousness of formerly marginalized groups and the growing corruption in the justice system as well as the weakening of family emotional ties have further aggravated such disputes. In light of these findings, we stress the value of thorough revision of conflict-provoking legal-policy gaps in family law (including the privatization of farmland meant to broaden land acquisition opportunities) and therapy for families whose relationships have broken down.