Lesotho: New inheritance law: progressive for some, regressive for same-sex couples

The article examines Lesotho’s Administration of Estates and Inheritance Act, 2024, highlighting its progressive reforms in abolishing male primogeniture and recognising equal inheritance rights for daughters and children born outside marriage. While widely welcomed by civil society and women’s rights groups, the law retains marriage-based inheritance rules that exclude same-sex couples from intestate succession. 

The story explains how the continued definition of marriage under the Marriage Act of 1974 limits inheritance protection to opposite-sex spouses, leaving same-sex partners as legal strangers despite long-term shared lives and assets. Legal experts and affected individuals describe the emotional and material consequences of this exclusion, including loss of homes and property after a partner’s death.

The article matters because it exposes a gap between constitutional equality protections and statutory inheritance law, raising questions about dignity, legal recognition, and economic security for LGBTIQ+ people. It also outlines limited legal workarounds, such as wills, and discusses emerging possibilities for reform as the Senate considers reviewing the Act.

LINK TO PUBLISHED STORY

 https://newsdayonline.co.ls/lives-forgotten-by-lesothos-new-inheritance-law

This article, first published by MISALesotho, is part of the Media Parity Capacity Building and republished as part of the programme series.