Administration of Estates Act 1925
Administration of Estates Act, 1925.
(15 & 16 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 23.
An Act to consolidate Enactments relating to the Administration of the Estates of Deceased Persons.
[9th April 1925]
B e it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I.
Devolution of Real Estate.
1 Devolution of real estate on personal representative.
(1) Real estate to which a deceased person was entitled for an interest not ceasing on his death shall on his death, and notwithstanding any testamentary disposition thereof, devolve from time to time on the personal representative of the deceased, in like manner as before the commencement of this Act chattels real devolved on the personal representative from time to time of a deceased person.
(2) The personal representatives for the time being of a deceased person are deemed in law his heirs and assigns within the meaning of all trusts and powers.
(3) The personal representatives shall be the representative of the deceased in regard to his real estate to which he was entitled for an interest not ceasing on his death as well as in regard to his personal estate.
2 Application to real estate of law affecting chattels real.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, all enactments and rules of law, and all jurisdiction of any court with respect to the appointment of administrators or to probate or letters of administration, or to dealings before probate in the case of chattels real, and with respect to costs and other matters in the administration of personal estate, in force before the commencement of this Act, and all powers, duties, rights, equities, obligations, and liabilities of a personal representative in force at the commencement of this Act with respect to chattels real, shall apply and attach to the personal representative and shall have effect with respect to real estate vested in him, and in particular all such powers of disposition and dealing as were before the commencement of this Act exercisable as respects chattels real by the survivor or survivors of two or more personal representatives, as well as by a singe personal representative, or by all the personal representatives together, shall, be exercisable by the personal representatives or representative of the deceased with respect to his real estate.
(2) Where as respects real estate there are two or more personal representatives, a conveyance of real estate devolving under this Part of this Act, shall not, save as otherwise provided as respects trust estates including settled land, be made without the concurrence therein of all such representatives or and order of the court, but where probate is granted to one or some of two or more persons named as executors, whether or not power is reserved to the other or others to prove, any conveyance of the real estate may be made by the proving executor or executors for the time being, without an order of the court, and shall be as effectual as if all the persons named as executor had concurred therein.
(3) Without prejudice to the rights and powers of a personal representative, the appointment of a personal representative in regard to real estate shall not, save as hereinafter provided, affect—
( a ) any rule as to marshalling or as to administration of assets;
( b ) the beneficial interest in real estate under any testamentary disposition;
( c ) any mode of dealing with any beneficial interest in real estate, or the proceeds of sale thereof;
( d ) the right of any person claiming to be interested in the real estate to take proceedings for the protection or recovery thereof against any person other than the personal representative.
3 Interpretation of Part I.
(1) In this Part of this Act ‘real estate’ includes—
(i) Chattels real, and land in possession, remainder, or reversion, and every interest in or over land to which a deceased person was entitled at the time of his death; and
(ii) Real estate held on trust (including settled land) or by way of mortgage or security, but not money to arise under a trust for sale of land, nor money secured or charged on land.
(2) A testator shall be deemed to have been entitled at his death to any interest in real estate passing under any gift contained in his will which operates as an appointment under a general power to appoint by will, or operates under the testamentary power conferred by statute to dispose of an entailed interest.
(3) An entailed interest of a deceased person shall (unless disposed of under the testamentary power conferred by statute) be deemed an interest ceasing on his death, but any further or other interest of the deceased in the same property in remainder or reversion which is capable of being disposed of by his will shall not be deemed to be an interest so ceasing.
(4) The interest of a deceased person under a joint tenancy where another tenant survives the deceased is an interest ceasing on his death.
(5) On the death of a corporator sole his interest in the corporation's real and personal estate shall be deemed to be an interest ceasing on his death and shall devolve to his successor.
This subsection applies on the demise of the Crown as respects all property, real and personal, vested in the Crown as a corporation sole.
Part II.
Executors and Administrators.
General Provisions.
4 Summons to executor to prove or renounce.
The court shall continue to have power to summon any person named as executor in any will to prove or renounce probate of the will, and to do such other things concerning the will as have heretofore be customary.
5 Cesser of right of executor to prove.
Where a person appointed executor by a will—
(i) survives the testator but dies without having taken out probate of the will; or
(ii) is cited to take out probate of the will and does not appear to the citation; or
(iii) renounces probate of the will;
his rights in respect of the executorship shall wholly cease, and the representation to the testator and the administration of his real and personal estate shall devolve and be committed in like manner as if that person had not been appointed executor.
6 Withdrawal of renunciation.
(1) Where an executor who has renounced probate has been permitted, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, to withdraw the renunciation and prove the will, the probate shall take effect and be deemed always to have taken effect without prejudice to the previous acts and dealings of and notices to any other personal representative who has previously proved the will or taken out letters of administration, and a memorandum of the subsequent probate shall be endorsed on the original probate or letters of administration.
(2) This section applies whether the testator died before or after the commencement of this Act.
7 Executor of executor represents original testator.
(1) An executor of a sole or last surviving executor of a testator is the executor of that testator.
This provision shall not apply to an executor who does not prove the will of his testator, and, in the case of an executor who on his death leaves surviving him some other executor of his testator who afterwards proves the will of that testator, it shall cease to apply on such probate being granted.
(2) So long as the chain of such representation is unbroken, the last executor in the chain is the executor of every preceding testator.
(3) The chain of such representation is broken by—
( a ) an intestacy; or
( b ) the failure of a testator to appoint an executor; or
( c ) the failure to obtain probate of a will;
but is not broken by a temporary grant of administration if probate is subsequently granted.
(4) Every person in the chain of representation to a testator—
( a ) has the same rights in respect of the real and personal estate of that testator as the original executor would have had if living; and
( b ) is, to the extent to which the estate whether real or personal of that testator has come to his hands, answerable as if he were an original executor.
8 Right of proving executors to exercise powers.
(1) Where probate is granted to one or some of two or more persons named as executors, whether or not power is reserved to the others or other to prove, all the powers which are by law conferred on the personal representative may be exercised by the proving executor or executors for the time being and shall be as effectual as if all the persons named as executors had concurred therein.
(2) This section applies whether the testator died before or after the commencement of this Act.
9 Vesting of estate of intestate between death and grant of administration.
Where a...
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