In the Goods of Matthews
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Date | 1898 |
| Court | Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division |
Probate - Presumption of Death - Time of Application.
The Court, on proof of sufficient inquiries, allowed the death of a testator to be sworn three years after his disappearance.
APPLICATION for leave to depose that the death of the testator had occurred on or since November 24, 1894.
James Matthews, aged seventy-three, disappeared from his home in Chatham Road, Wandsworth, on November 24, 1894, and was not afterwards heard of.
He had retired from business, and, at the time of his disappearance, was living with his wife's sister and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Deller, on the income arising from the rents of some houses in Wandsworth and Shadwell.
By his will and a codicil, dated in 1872 and 1873 respectively, he made his wife sole executrix and residuary legatee, and left her all his real and personal property for life, and, after her death, devised the houses specifically, some to Mrs. Deller, some to Mrs. Minton, Mrs. Deller's daughter, and some to his niece Mrs. Fenton.
His wife was dead, and Mrs. Fenton, besides being a specific devisee under the will, was one of the next of kin and probably the heiress-at-law of the testator.
It appeared from affidavits sworn by Mrs. Minton, the applicant, and her solicitor, that, since the disappearance of the testator, searches had been made by members of the family in the neighbourhood without result, advertisements had been published in five newspapers, the register of deaths searched, and the relieving officer and the local superintendent of police communicated with. None of the tenants...
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Re Wong Sook Mun Christina
...Khee v Legal Representative of the Estate of Ong Koh Tee, deceased [1994] 2 SLR (R) 212; [1994] 2 SLR 769 (refd) Matthews, In the Goods of [1898] P 17 (refd) N Prem Ananthi v Tahsildar, CoimbatoreAIR 1989 Mad 248 (refd) Narayan Bhagwant v Shriniwas Trimbak (1905) 8 Bombay LR 226 (refd) Osma......
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Tolley, re Fisher
...the court was prepared to give leave sooner in clear cases or where there was otherwise good reason: see eg In the goods of Matthews [1898] P 17 (three 15 Since the 2013 Act came into force, standard practitioner works such as Tristram and Coote's Probate Practice (32 nd ed, 2020, [25.19] f......