I would be grateful for some clarification from forum members please. My client was born in Kenya in 1961 when Kenya was a British Colony. Her father had an English domicile of origin. If the clients father had a domicile of choice in Kenya at the time of her birth would Kenya being a British Colony impact on her domicile or would her domicile of origin be Kenya.
Elizabeth Cleary-Rodriguez
Humphries Kirk
As a point of general principle, and I leave others better informed specifically to comment upon any colonial issues, were your client’s Father to have had a domicile of choice in Kenya, that domicile of choice remains acquired as giving a domicile of origin to your client.
The way it used to work in the Empire was purely practical. If you had acquired a domicile of choice elsewhere in the Empire, that domicile was available to regulate the estate according to the law where your main interests were , without back reference to the domicile of origin - here within the United Kingdom.
It was a question of pragmatism in administration, which could be reversed by the “migrant” stating or leaving inference that they retained their intention to return to their state of origin.
Peter Harris