Father dead, properties being misused

My father passed away few weeks ago without leaving behind a Will. Since I am the first born and our mother predeceased my father, we agreed with my young brothers and sisters that I should apply for a letter of administration of his estate. Before the grant of the letter of administration, a woman appeared from the blue, who has challenged my application claiming she was also a wife of my father. My father’s business partners are also behaving weirdly and not disclosing details of certain transactions. The Court case will take long. What can we do at this juncture from stopping this pilferage.
BB, Dar

The letter of administrations you have applied for will not be granted until the application made by this alleged wife of the deceased is disposed of. You have correctly pointed out that this will take time and time being of essence, you need to stop this pilferage and misuse of assets.

Our law allows granting of a letter of administration with limited powers. Such a temporary letter of administration will empower the administrator with all the rights and powers of the general administrator except for the powers of distributing the estate. In law this is referred to as grant of letters of administration pendent lite. We recommend that you immediately apply for this letter of administration to preserve your late father’s estates whilst you are fighting it out in Court. This application should be filed under certificate of urgency for it to get a quick hearing date.