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probate of the will or letters of administration of the estate and effects of the deceased, within six calendar months after his or her decease, or within two calendar months after the termination of any suit or dispute respecting the will or the right to letters of administration, if there shall be any such, which shall not be ended within four calendar months after the death of the deceased; every person so offending shall forfeit the sum of 100/., and also a further sum, at and after the rate of 10l. per centum on the amount of the stamp duty payable on the probate of the will or letters of administration of the estate and effects of the deceased.

Sect. 38. That from and after the expiration of three calendar months from the passing of this act, no ecclesiastical court or person shall grant probate of the will or letters of administration of the estate and effects of any person deceased, without first requiring and receiving from the person or persons applying for the probate or letters of administration, or from some other competent person or persons, an affidavit, or solemn affirmation in the case of Quakers, that the estate and effects of the deceased, for or in respect of which the probate or letters of administration is or are to be granted, exclusive of what the deceased shall have been possessed of or entitled to as a trustee for any other person or persons, and not beneficially, but including the leasehold estates for years of the deceased, whether absolute or determinable on lives, if any, and without deducting any thing on account of the debts due and owing from the deceased, are under the value of a certain sum to be therein specified, to the best of the deponent's or affirmant's knowledge, information, and belief, in order that the proper and full stamp duty may be paid on such probate or letters of administration; which affidavit or affirmation shall be made before the surrogate or other person who shall administer the usual oath for the due administration of the estate and effects of the deceased.

Sect. 39. That every such affidavit or affirmation shall be exempt from stamp duty, and shall be transmitted to the said commissioners of stamps, together with the copy of the will, or extract, or account of the letters of administration to which it shall relate, by the registrar, or other officer of the court, whose duty it shall be to transmit copies of wills, and extracts or accounts of letters of administration, to the said commissioners, for the better collection of the duties on legacies and successions to personal estate upon intestacy; and if any registrar or other officer, whose duty

it shall be, shall neglect to transmit such affidavit or affirmation to the said commissioners of stamps, as hereby directed, every person so offending shall forfeit the sum of

50%.

Sect. 40. That from and after the passing of this act, where any person, on applying for the probate of a will or letters of administration, shall have estimated the estate and effects of the deceased to be of greater value than the same shall have afterwards proved to be, and shall in consequence have paid too high a stamp duty thereon, if such person shall produce the probate or letters of administration to the said commissioners of stamps, within six calendar months after the true value of the estate and effects shall have been ascertained, and it shall be discovered that too high a duty was first paid on the probate or letters of administration, and shall deliver to them a particular inventory and account, and valuation of the estate and effects of the deceased, verified by an affidavit, or solemn affirmation in the case of Quakers; and if it should thereupon satisfactorily appear to the said commissioners that a greater stamp duty was paid on the probate or letters of administration than the law required, it shall be lawful for the said commissioners to cancel and expunge the stamp on the probate or letters of administration, and to substitute another stamp for denoting the duty which ought to have been paid thereon, and to make an allowance for the difference between them, as in the cases of spoiled stamps, or if the difference be considerable, to repay the same in money, at the discretion of the said commissioners.

Sect. 41. That from and after the passing of this act, where any person, on applying for the probate of a will or letters of administration, shall have estimated the estate and effects of the deceased to be of less value than the same shall have afterwards proved to be, and shall in consequence have paid too little stamp duty thereon, it shall be lawful for the said commissioners of stamps, on delivery to them of an affidavit or solemn affirmation of the value of the estate and effects of the deceased, to cause the probate or letters of administration to be duly stamped, on payment of the full duty which ought to have been originally paid thereon in respect of such value, and of the further sum or penalty payable by law for stamping deeds after the execution thereof, without any deduction or allowance of the stamp duty originally paid on such probate or letters of administration:

provided always, that if the application shall be made within six calendar months after the true value of the estate and effects shall be ascertained, and it shall be discovered that too little duty was at first paid on the probate or letters of administration, and if it shall appear by affidavit or solemn affirmation, to the satisfaction of the said commissioners, that such duty was paid in consequence of any mistake or misapprehension, or of its not being known at the time that some particular part of the estate and effects belonged to the deceased, and without any intention of fraud, or to delay the payment of the full and proper duty, then it shall be lawful for the said commissioners to remit the beforementioned penalty, and to cause the probate or letters of administration to be duly stamped, on payment only of the sum which shall be wanting to make up the duty which ought to have been at first paid thereon.

Sect. 42. That in cases of letters of administration on which too little stamp duty shall have been paid at first, the said commissioners of stamps shall not cause the same to be duly stamped in the manner aforesaid, until the administrator shall have given such security to the ecclesiastical court or ordinary by whom the letters of administration shall have been granted, as ought by law to have been given on the granting thereof, in case the full value of the estate and effects of the deceased had been then ascertained, and also that the said commissioners of stamps shall yearly or oftener transmit an account of the probates and letters of administration, upon which the stamps shall have been rectified in pursuance of this act, to the several ecclesiastical courts by which the same shall have been granted, together with the value of the estate and effects of the deceased, upon which such rectification shall have proceeded.

Sect. 43. That where too little duty shall have been paid on any probate or letters of administration, in consequence of any mistake or misapprehension, or of its not being known at the time that some particular part of the estate and effects belonged to the deceased, if any executor or administrator acting under such probate or letters of administration shall not, within six calendar months after the passing of this act, or after the discovery of the mistake or misapprehension, or of any estate or effects not known at the time to have belonged to the deceased, apply to the said commissioners of stamps, and pay what shall be wanting to make up the duty which ought to have been paid at first on such probate or letters of administration, he or she shall forfeit the sum of

1007., and also a further sum, at and after the rate of 101. per centum on the amount of the sum wanting to make up the proper duty.

Sect. 44. That from and after the expiration of three calendar months from the passing of this act, it shall not be lawful for any ecclesiastical court or person to call in and revoke, or to accept the surrender of any probate or letters of administration, on the ground only of too high or too low a stamp duty having been paid thereon, as heretofore hath been practised; and if any ecclesiastical court or person shall so do, the commissioners of stamps shall not make any allowance whatever for the stamp duty on the probate or letters of administration which shall be so annulled.

Sect. 45. And whereas it has happened in the case of letters of administration on which the proper stamp duty hath not been paid at first, that certain debts, chattels real or other effects, due or belonging to the deceased, have been found to be of such great value, that the administrator hath not been possessed of money sufficient either of his own or of the deceased to pay the requisite stamp duty, in order to render such letters of administration available for the recovery thereof by law: and whereas the like may occur again, and it may also happen that executors or persons entitled to take out letters of administration may, before obtaining probate of the will or letters of administration of the estate and effects of the deceased, find some considerable part or parts of the estate and effects of the deceased so circumstanced as not to be immediately got possession of, and may not have money sufficient either of their own or of the deceased to pay the stamp duty on the probate or letters of administration which it shall be necessary to obtain; it is enacted, that from and after the passing of this act, it shall be lawful for the said commissioners of stamps, on satisfactory proof of the facts by affidavit or solemn affirmation, in any such case as aforesaid which may appear to them to require relief, to cause the probate or letters of administration to be duly stamped, for denoting the duty payable or which ought originally to have been paid thereon, and to give credit for the duty, either upon payment of the beforementioned penalty, or without, in cases of probates or letters of administration already obtained, and upon which too little duty shall have been paid, and either with or without allowance of the stamp duty already paid thereon, as the case may require, under the provisions of this act; provided in

all such cases of credit that security be first given by the executors or administrators, together with two or more sufficient sureties to be approved of by the said commissioners, by a bond to his majesty, his heirs, or successors, in double the amount of the duty, for the due and full payment of the sum for which credit shall be given, within six calendar months, or any less period, and of the interest for the same, at the rate of 10l. per cent. per annum, from the expiration of such period until payment thereof, in case of any default of payment at the time appointed; and such probate or letters of administration being duly stamped in the manner aforesaid, shall be as valid and available as if the proper duty had been at first paid thereon, and the same had been stamped accordingly.

Sect. 46. Provided, that if at the expiration of the time to be allowed for the payment of the duty on such probate or letters of administration, it shall appear to the satisfaction of the said commissioners, that the executor or administrator to whom such credit shall be given as aforesaid, shall not have recovered effects of the deceased to an amount sufficient for the payment of the duty, it shall be lawful for the said commissioners to give such further time for the payment thereof, and upon such terms and conditions as they shall think expedient.

Sect. 47. Provided also, that the probate or letters of administration so to be stamped on credit as aforesaid, shall be deposited with the said commissioners of stamps, and shall not be delivered up to the executor or administrator until payment of the duty, together with such interest as aforesaid, if any shall become due; but the same shall nevertheless be produced in evidence by some officer of the commissioners of stamps, at the expence of the executor or administrator, as occasion shall require.

Sect. 48. That the duty for which credit shall be given as aforesaid, shall be a debt to his majesty, his heirs, or successors, from the personal estate of the deceased, and shall be paid in preference to and before any other debt whatsoever due from the same estate; and if any executor or administrator of the estate of the deceased shall pay any other debt in preference thereto, he or she shall not only be charged with and be liable to pay the duty out of his or her own estate, but shall also forfeit the sum of 500l.

Sect. 49. That if before payment of the duty for which credit shall be given in any such case as aforesaid, it shall

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