PERSONAL APPLICATIONS.

RULES, ORDERS, AND INSTRUCTIONS AS TO PERSONAL APPLICATIONS FOR GRANTS OF PROBATE OR LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION.

1. Persons wishing to obtain Grants of Probate or Letters of Administration without the intervention of a Proctor, Solicitor, or Attorney, must apply in person at the Department for Personal Applications, and not by letter.

2. No such Application will be received through an agent of any kind (whether paid or unpaid).

3. The Applications of parties who are attended by a person acting or appearing to act as their adviser in the matter will not be entertained.

4. All Fees are to be paid in advance in Probate Court Stamps.

5. Applications which have in the first instance been made through a Proctor, Solicitor, or Attorney at the Principal Registry, or at a District Registry, cannot be transferred to this Department.

6. Applications for Grants of Probate or Administration in cases which have already been before the Court (on motion or otherwise) will not be entertained at this Department, but must be made through a Proctor, Solicitor, or Attorney.

7. Whenever it becomes necessary, in the course of proceeding with an Application which has been entertained at this Department, to obtain the directions of the Court, the Application will not be proceeded with, but must be placed in the hands of a Proctor, Solicitor, or Attorney.

8. The papers necessary to lead the Grant applied for will be prepared in this Department. An Applicant is, however, at liberty to bring such papers, or any of them, filled up, but not sworn to, and the same, if correct, may be received (the usual Fee for perusal being charged). All further papers which may be required will be drawn in this Department. Testamentary Papers once deposited in this Department will not be given out unless under special circumstances, and by permission of one of the Registrars.

9. When it is necessary to administer an Oath or take an Affirmation, the party shall be sworn or affirmed before some proper authority of the Principal Registry, or of a District Registry, unless otherwise permitted by one of the Registrars.

10. Every Applicant for a first Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration must produce a Certificate of the death or burial of the Deceased, or give a reason, to the satisfaction of one of the Registrars, for the non-production thereof.

11. Every Applicant must be prepared with a reference to some person of position or character, to establish his or her identity.

12. The Engrossments of Wills and Testamentary Papers will be made in the Registry.

13. Every Applicant for a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration shall give under his or her hand a Schedule of the Property to be affected by the Grant in the form hereunto annexed, marked A. (The necessary forms will be provided in the Registry.)

14. Legal Advice is not to be given to Applicants, either with respect to the property to be included in the abovementioned Schedule, or upon any other matter connected with the Application, and the Clerks in this Department are only to be held responsible for embodying in a proper form the instructions given to them; but they will, as far as practicable, assist Applicants by giving them information and directions as to the course which they must pursue.

15. A Receipt or Acknowledgment of each Application will be handed to the Applicant, and the production of such Receipt will be required of the person who attends to obtain the Grant when completed.

16. No Clerk or Officer of this Department is to become Surety to any Administration Bond.

17. All Administration Bonds in cases of Personal Applications are to be executed in this Department, or in a District Registry; if executed in this Department the Bond must be attested by the Chief Clerk or Senior Clerk in attendance.

G

(A.)-AN ACCOUNT OF THE PERSONAL ESTATE AND DECEASED.

EFFECTS OF

(No Deductions to be made on account of Debts owing by Deceased.)

A FEW HINTS TO EXECUTORS AS TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE PROPERTY.

CHAPTER III.

As full instructions will be found in my "Practical Guide" for the payment of the Legacy and Succession Duties required by the Inland Revenue under the 36 Geo. III., cap. 52, 45 Geo. III., cap. 28, and the 16 and 17 Vict., cap. 51, such information in these pages would only serve to extend the size of this work unnecessarily. There are a few points, however, in connection with the distribution of the property and other duties of executors which it would be as well to mention here, and which it is hoped will be found useful by the reader.

The executor is the legal personal representative of the deceased, and all moveable goods vest in him.

Should a married woman be appointed an executrix, the consent of her husband is necessary before she can act, and even then he must join her in all the acts done in connection with the executorship.

Where two or more executors are appointed they will be considered as one, and the acts done by one will be held to be done by all, although each may act separately, and receive and give a discharge for a debt, or pay a legacy; but an executor can neither sue nor be sued by his coexecutors. Should it be necessary, however, to bring an action in connection with the estate, all the executors must join in doing so.

Should the executor, in examining the papers of the

deceased previous to obtaining probate, find that the testator has given some property in his lifetime by some document which has no legal force, he will be compelled to take possession thereof as part of the estate, and will not be considered to hold it in trust for the person to whom the testator had intended to give it, although that person may have been in possession of it in the testator's lifetime; for if it were not legally conveyed to him, it would not be his, as under the decision of Richards v. Delbridge (18 Eq., L. R., 11) it was held that an invalid transfer could not operate as a declaration of trust.

As some time must necessarily elapse between the date of the death and the date of the probate of the will, an executor would naturally be uncertain what particular acts he might legally perform before the probate was granted to him, and by which he is constituted the legal personal representative of the deceased, especially as, by the 55 Geo. III., cap. 184, sec. 37, a penalty of £100 attaches to any person administering an estate without having taken out a grant of probate to the will, or letters of administration to the estate of the deceased, and paid the proper stamp duty on the value of the effects within six months after the date of the death; the following are some of those acts which not only he might do, but which it would be advisable for him to perform, before the grant can be obtained.

As the law compels an executor to pay the debts of a testator before any portion of the estate can be legally handed over to the legatees, the sooner he obtains a list containing the names of all the creditors the better, with the amount of their claims; and in order to assist him in obtaining these, as well as to release him from any subsequent liability should any creditor fail to present his claim until after the estate had been divided, he should insert in the "London Gazette " and two daily newspapers an advertisement in the following form: