Court dismisses contested will in Eldoret tycoon Talai's succession case

His second wife Irene Jeptanui Talai had relied on the will to allocate herself lion shares of the deceased’s vast estate estimated to be worth more than Ksh.3 billion.

Kibor, who passed away on August 2, 2012 was survived by two widows, a now deceased first wife Tapyotin Kibor whom he married in 1947 and sired five children and his second wife Irene, who is at the centre of contested will has three children.

He left behind a multi-billion shilling estate spread in Uasin Gishu and Elgeyo Marakwet counties comprising of vast agricultural land, commercial properties, motor vehicles, farm equipment and financial assets.

In his verdict Justice Reuben Nyakundi declared the purported will dated February 13,2006 as null and void following a forensic document examiner’s report in November 2024, which concluded that the signatures on the will did not match authenticated signatures of the deceased.

According to the Judge, Tapyotin and the deceased worked together between 1947 and 1981, a period during which they acquired most of the properties that now form the vast empire.

The Judge also ruled that the second wife married the deceased in 1987 after most of the properties had already been acquired. 

The court’s ruling stems from a two-decade case filed by Tapyotin, who passed away six years ago, challenging the validity of the will in which her co-wife had used to allocate herself more wealth at the expense of other beneficiaries.

She asked the court to subject the said will to forensic document examination at the DCI headquarters in Nairobi to determine its validity.

In his conclusion, Justice Nyakundi directed that the matter be mentioned before him on October 2, 2025 to confirm compliance and further orders.