on Rentscharge.

Intestate whose Estate is being administered, shall have satisfied all such Liabilities under the said Conveyance, or Agreement for a Conveyance, as may have accrued due and been claimed up to the Time of the Conveyance hereafter mentioned, and shall have set apart a sufficient Fund to answer any future Claim that may be made in respect of any fixed and ascertained sum covenanted or agreed by the Grantee to be laid out on the Property conveyed, although the period for laying out the same may not have arrived, and shall have conveyed such Property or assigned the said Agreement for such conveyance as aforesaid, to a Purchaser thereof, he shall be at liberty to distribute the Residuary Personal Estate of the Deceased to and amongst the Parties entitled thereto respectively, without appropriating any Part or any further Part (as the Case may be) of the Personal Estate of the Deceased to meet any future Liability under the said Conveyance or Agreement for a Conveyance; and the Executor or Administrator so distributing the Residuary Estate shall not, after having made or executed such Conveyance or Assignment, and having where necessary, set apart such sufficient Fund as aforesaid, be personally liable in respect of any subsequent Claim under the said Conveyance, or Agreement for Conveyance; but nothing herein contained shall Prejudice the Right of the Grantor, or those claiming under him, to follow the Assets of the Deceased into the hands of the Person or Persons to or among whom the said Assets may have been distributed."

Section 29.

As to Distri

Assets of

Testator or Intestate after Notice given by Executor or Adminis trator.

"XXIX. Where an Executor or Administrator shall have bution of the given such or the like Notices as in the Opinion of the Courtin which such Executor or Administrator is sought to be charged would have been given by the Court of Chancery in an Administration Suit, for Creditors and others to send in to the Executor or Administrator their claims against the Estate of the Testator or Intestate, such Executor or Administrator shall, at the Expiration of the Time named in the Notices or the last of the said Notices for sending in such Claims, be at liberty to distribute the Assets of the Testator or Intestate, or any Part thereof, amongst the Parties entitled thereto, having regard to the Claims of which such Executor or Administrator has then Notice, and shall not be liable for the Assets or any Part thereof so distributed to

any Person of whose Claim such Executor or Administrator 22nd & 23rd shall not have had Notice at the Time of Distribution of Vic., cap. 35. the said Assets or a Part thereof, as the Case may be; but nothing in the present Act contained shall prejudice the Right of any Creditor or Claimant to follow the Assets or any Part thereof into the hands of the Person or Persons who may have received the same respectively."

&c., may

ment, &c.,

"XXX. Any Trustee, Executor, or Administrator shall be Section 30. at liberty, without the Institution of a Suit, to apply by Trustee, Executor, Petition to any Judge of the High Court of Chancery, or by Summons upon a written Statement to any such Judge at apply by Chambers, for the Opinion, Advice, or Direction of such Petition to Judge on any Question respecting the Management or Ad- Judgo Chancery for ministration of the Trust Property or the Assets of any Opinion, Testator or Intestate, such Application to be served upon or the Advice, &c., in ManageHearing thereof to be attended by all Persons interested in such Application, or such of them as the said Judge shall of Trust think expedient; and the Trustee, Executor, or Adminis- Property trator acting upon the Opinion, Advice, or Direction given by the said Judge shall be deemed, so far as regards his own responsibility, to have discharged his Duty as such Trustee, Executor, or Administrator in the Subject Matter of the said Application; provided nevertheless that this Act shall not extend to indemnify any Trustee, Executor, or Administrator in respect of any Act done in accordance with such Opinion, Advice, or Direction as aforesaid, if such Trustee, Executor, or Administrator shall have been guilty of any Fraud or wilful Concealment or Misrepresentation in obtaining such Opinion, Advice, or Direction; and the Costs of such Application as aforesaid shall be in the Discretion of the Judge to whom the said Application shall be made."

Instrument

Clauses for

"XXXI. Every deed, Will, or other Instrument creating a Section 31. Trust either expressly or by implication shall, without Pre-Every Trust judice to the clauses actually contained therein, be deemed to to be deemed contain a Clause in the Words or to the effect following; that to contain is to say, 'That the Trustees or Trustee for the time being of the Indem'said Deed, Will, or other Instrument shall be respectively nity and Rechargeable only for such Monies, Stocks, Funds, and Securi- imbursement 'ties as they shall respectively actually receive notwith-Trustees. 'standing their respectively signing any Receipt for the sake

of

Section 32.

As to Invest ments by Trustees.

' of Conformity, and shall be answerable and accountable only for their own Acts, Receipts, Neglects, or Defaults, and not 'for those of each other, nor for any Banker, Broker, or other 'person with whom any Trust Monies or Securities may be 'deposited, nor for the insufficiency or Deficiency of any Stocks, Funds or Securities, nor for any other Loss, unless the 'same shall happen through their own wilful Default 'respectively and also that it shall be lawful for the Trustees 'or Trustee for the Time being of the said Deed, Will or other Instrument to reimburse themselves or himself, or pay or discharge out of the Trust Premises all Expenses in'curred in or about the execution of the Trusts or Powers of the said Deed, Will, or other Instrument.'"

6

6

"XXXII. When a Trustee, Executor, or Administrator shall not, by some Instruments creating his Trust, be expressly forbidden to invest any Trust Fund or Real Securities, in any Part of the United Kingdom, or on the Stock of the Bank of England or Ireland, or on East India Stock, it shall be lawful for such Trustee, Executor, or Administrator to invest such Trust Fund on such Securities or Stock, and he shall not be liable on that account as for a Breach of Trust, provided that such Investment shall in other respects be reasonable and proper."

Section 33.
Act not to

extend to Scotland.

Extent of Act.

"XXXII. This Act shall not extend to Scotland."

129

HINTS TO ADMINISTRATORS AS TO THE
DISTRIBUTION OF PROPERTY IN
CASES OF INTESTACY.

HITHERTO Wills and the duties of Executors with regard thereto have alone been dealt with; it remains now to point out the duties of Administrators, and to show who are entitled to share in the distribution of an estate when the deceased has died intestate.

Previous to the 31st December, 1856, the distribution of an intestate's estate was not uniform all over the kingdom, the adminstrator having to divide it at times according to certain arbitrary customs which obtained in some localities which were not affected by the Statute of Distribution. Amongst these may be mentioned the well-known customs of the Cities of London and York, but with regard to all who have died subsequent to that date the mode of distribution is the same, and in order to show in what shares and among whom the estate should be divided there will be found at the end of the chapter, a table of the order of precedence, not only of the next-of-kin as to personal estate, but also of those who are entitled as the heirs-at-law to the real estate. There are one or two points besides this which it will not be amiss to bring more prominently before the reader, but previous to doing so it may be as well to show who are entitled to the grant of administration, and who are incapable of acting in that capacity.

The husband can claim under the civil law to be admitted as administrator of his wife's estate, and the wife, though she cannot claim it, is generally admitted, on her application for that purpose, by the Court, as administratrix of her husband

I

in preference to any of the next-of-kin, for the Court has the power in granting letters of administration to a deceased person to select any one of the persons entitled to share in his property, but before doing so, and issuing the grant, the others who are entitled in an equal degree are cited to appear, and with their consent, the Court will grant administration to the person applying for it. Should the intestate have died insolvent and the next-of-kin refuse to take out a grant of letters of administration to his estate, the Court will issue them to a creditor on his application. In the same way a grant will issue to a person acting under a power of attorney from the rightful administrator, when such administrator happens to be abroad. In fact the Court will grant letters of administration to any one applying for them, provided there be no opposition raised, and after all the persons entitled have been cited to appear or have given their consent in writing, and they will even issue a grant for a limited period, for instance during the minority of the children, or during the temporary insanity of the proper administrator, but as soon as the time for which the grant has been issued has expired, and it is necessary that there should be letters of administration granted to the rightful administrator, the Court will, on his making application, issue what is termed a cessate grant.

ཚ

As the circumstances which disqualify a person from taking the office of administrator are similar to those already mentioned in Chapter 2, as preventing his acting as executorja repetition of them is unnecessary; they must not be overlooked, however, and the reader is referred to the chapter alluded to.

Many of those acts which an executor may perform before the Probate has been obtained are not permitted to an administrator before the grant of administration has been issued, for, an executor is appointed by the will, and is clothed with a certain amount of authority from the death of the testator, whilst an administrator only takes his authority from the grant of letters of administration, and until he has