Parents should avoid children's feuds over land

PINI BOTLHOKO
Correspondent | Thursday April 15, 2010 00:00

She said some parents who fail to develop their plots offer the title deeds to their children. The trouble begins when the other children claim right of ownership by birth.

'There have been some cases recently when children from the same family were fighting over a plot.  Their complaint was that their parents secretly gave the plot to one of the children. They would complain that they were not consulted at all,' said SeabeIn other situations the parents lend the plot to one of the children who then develops it treating his siblings like tenants.

This leads to misunderstandings because the child who developed the plot will demand compensation from anybody who claims it.

'In some instances, all the children build residential units inside the plot making it difficult for any one of them to give way to the other resulting in fights,' said Seabe.

Seabe said they encourage the family to discuss and resolve the ownership problems.

Seabe said there has been a case where parents gave their daughter a plot. She gave the plot to her boyfriend without notifying the parents.

She and the boyfriend died and when the parents wanted the plot back they discovered that the two had sold the plot to someone else. They engaged a lawyer and went to court but lost.

The court president advised parents to discuss inheritance openly to avoid misunderstandings and court cases.