ABSTRACT
At the end of the farming season the responsibilities to her husband of the dead woman's matrikin are ended. There can be no legal claim for return of the marriage payment from the wife's mother's brother and no return is usually made. However, if a wife were to die within a very short time of marriage the widower could through his patrikins – men bring pressure on the mother's brother to make him a substantial gift of consolation which would in fact be part of the payment made. The Yako have no form of sororate. A man is free to marry a woman of the matrilineage of his deceased wife, and may seek to make a smaller marriage payment in such a case, but there is no legal obligation on the former wife's kin to offer another spouse or to accept less marriage money.
