Rules of evidence. Appeal. District registries. Probate or office copy to be ing real estate, unless, &c. of administration of the effects of deceased persons vested in any court or person in England, together with full authority to hear and determine all questions relating to matters and causes testamentary, shall belong to and be vested in Her Majesty, and shall, except as in this Act mentioned, be exercised in her name in a court to be called the Court of Probate. 33. The rules of evidence observed in the Superior Courts of common law shall be applicable to and observed in the trial of all questions of fact in the Court of Probate. 39. Any person aggrieved by any final or interlocutory decree or order of the Court of Probate may appeal therefrom to the House of Lords (a), provided that no appeal from any interlocutory order shall be made without leave of the court, but on the hearing of an appeal from any final decree all interlocutory orders complained of shall also be considered as under appeal. 46. Probate of a will or letters of administration may be granted in common form by district registrars, if it shall appear by affidavit of the person applying for the same that the testator or intestate had at the time of his death a fixed place of abode within the district. 47. Such affidavit shall be conclusive for the purpose of authorising the grant, and shall not be impeached by reason that the testator or intestate had no such fixed place of abode. 48. The district registrar shall not grant probate or administration in cases of contention until the contention is terminated, or in which it appears to him that the same ought not to be granted in common form. 64. In any action where it would have been necessary to evidence of will produce and prove an original will in order to establish a in actions affect devise or other testamentary disposition of or affecting real estate, it shall be lawful for the party intending to establish in proof such devise or other testamentary disposition to give to the opposite party ten days, at least, before the trial or other proceeding in which the said proof shall be intended to be adduced, notice that he intends at the said trial or other proceeding to give in evidence, in proof of the devise or other testamentary disposition, the probate of the said will or the letters of administration with the will annexed, or a copy thereof, stamped with any seal of the Court of Probate; and in every such case such probate or letters of administration, or copy thereof respectively, stamped as aforesaid, shall be sufficient evidence of such will, and of its validity and contents, notwithstanding the same may not have been proved in solemn form or have been otherwise declared valid in a contentious case, unless the party receiving such notice shall, (a) An intermediate appeal may be made to the Court of Appeal: (Sugden v. Lord St. Leonards, 1 P. Div. 154.) within four days after such receipt, give notice that he disputes the validity of such devise or other testamentary disposition. administrator. 73. Where a person shall die wholly intestate as to his personal Power to court estate, or leaving a will affecting personal estate, but without to appoint having appointed an executor thereof willing and competent to take probate, or where the executor shall at the time of the death of such person be resident out of the United Kingdom, and it shall appear to the court to be necessary or convenient in any such case, by reason of the insolvency of the estate of the deceased or other special circumstances, to appoint some person to be the administrator of the personal estate of the deceased, or of any part of such personal estate, other than the person who if this Act had not been passed would by law have been entitled to a grant of administration of such personal estate, it shall not be obligatory upon the court to grant administration to the person who if this Act had not been passed would by law have been entitled to a grant thereof, but it shall be lawful for the court in its discretion to appoint such person as the court shall think fit to be such administrator upon his giving such security (if any) as the court shall direct, and every such administration may be limited as the court shall think fit. 77. Payments bonâ fide made to or by the executor or adminis- Payments under trator under any probate or administration afterwards revoked probate, &c., shall be valid. revoked. bond. 81. Persons to whom grants of administrations shall be com- Administration mitted shall give a bond to the judge of the Court of Probate with one or more sureties if required, conditioned for duly collecting, getting in, and administering the personal estate of the deceased. 82. Such bond shall be in a penalty of double the amount Penalty. under which the estate and effects of the deceased shall be sworn, unless the court or district registrar, as the case may be, shall in any case think fit to direct the same to be reduced, in which case it shall be lawful for the court or district registrar so to do, and the court or district registrar may also direct that more bonds than one shall be given, so as to limit the liability of any surety to such amount as the court or district registrar shall think reasonable. bond. 83. The court may, on application made on motion or petition Assignment of in a summary way, and on being satisfied that the condition of any such bond has been broken, order one of the registrars of the court to assign the same to some person, to be named in such order, and such person, his executors or administrators, shall thereupon be entitled to sue on the said bond, in his own name, as if the same had been originally given to him instead of to the judge of the court, and shall be entitled to recover thereon as trustee for all persons interested the full amount recoverable in respect of any breach of the condition of the said bond. Court of Probate Act, 1858. chambers. 21 & 22 VICT. c. 95. Judge may sit in 3. The judge of the Court of Probate may sit in chambers, provided that no question shall be heard in chambers which either party shall require to be heard in open court. County Courts. Vesting of per sonalty before 5. The judge in chambers shall have the same power with respect to business to be brought before him as if sitting in open court. 10. By this section jurisdiction in contentious business is given to the County Courts in cases where the personalty is under 2007., and the deceased was not entitled to real estate to the value of 3001. or upwards. 19. After the death of a person dying intestate, and before administration. grant of administration, the personal estate shall be vested in the judge of the Court of Probate. (a) Discharge of executor, &c., from claim to tion of fund. Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1880. PART III-Stamps. 11. Power to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue to commute legacy duty or succession duty presumptively payable in certain cases. 12. When an executor, administrator, or trustee shall have given notice in writing to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue duty on distribu- for any claim to legacy duty or succession duty in respect of any fund in his hands which he intends to distribute, and shall have delivered to the commissioners all particulars which they may require in order to ascertain the existence and extent of any such claim, he shall be at liberty to distribute the fund amongst the parties entitled thereto, after satisfaction of any claims to duty made by the commissioners, and shall be entitled to receive from them a certificate discharging him from his liability to any duty in respect of the fund. Such certificate shall not in any way affect the liability of any person other than the person in whose favour it is expressed to be given. 13. Where it appears upon an examination of the account rendered to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue that the value of the whole of the personal estate of any person dying after the (a) Who is now the President of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division. passing of this Act does not amount to the sum of one hundred pounds, no legacy duty shall be charged in respect thereof or of any portion thereof. Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1881. 44 VICT. c. 12. PART III-Stamps. Grant of duties in respect of probate and nistration. As to Probate and Legacy Duties, and Duties on Accounts. 27. The duties imposed by the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1880, upon probates of wills and letters of administration, shall not be payable upon probates or letters of administration letters of admigranted on and after the 1st June, 1881; and on and after that day in substitution for such duties there shall, save as is hereinafter expressly provided, be charged and paid on the affidavit to be required and received from the person applying for the probate or letters of administration, the stamp duties hereinafter specified; (that is to say), Where the estate and effects 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 trustee, and not beneficially, shall be above the value of 1007., and not above the value of 500...... .... DUTY. At the rate of one pound for Where such estate and effects shall Where such estate and effects shall be above the value of 1000l. ... shillings for every full sum At the rate of three pounds for every full sum of 1007., and for any fractional part of 1007., over any multiple of 100l. 28. On and after the 1st June, 1881, in the case of a person Power to deduct dying domiciled in any part of the United Kingdom, it shall be debts and funeral expenses where deceased lawful for the person applying for the probate or letters of died domiciled in administration to state in his affidavit the fact of such domicile, the United Kingdom. As to forms of affidavit. Probate or letters of administra tion to bear a certificate in lieu of stamp duty. Provision for overpaid. and to deliver therewith or annex thereto a schedule of the debts due from the deceased to persons resident in the United Kingdom, and the funeral expenses, and in that case, for the purpose of the charge of duty on the affidavit, the aggregate amount of the debts and funeral expenses appearing in the schedule shall be deducted from the value of the estate and effects as specified in the account delivered with or annexed to the affidavit. Debts to be deducted under the power hereby given shall be debts due and owing from the deceased and payable by law out of any part of the estate and effects comprised in the affidavit, and are not to include voluntary debts expressed to be payable on the death of the deceased, or payable under any instrument which shall not have been bona fide delivered to the donee thereof three months before the death of the deceased, or debts in respect whereof any real estate may be primarily liable or a reimbursement may be capable of being claimed from any real estate of the deceased or from any other estate or person. Funeral expenses to be deducted under the power hereby given shall include only such expenses as are allowable as reasonable funeral expenses according to law. 29. The affidavit to be required or received from any person applying for probate or letters of administration shall extend to the verification of the account of the estate and effects, or to the verification of such account and the schedule of debts and funeral expenses, as the case may be, and shall be in accordance with such form as may be prescribed by the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury; and the Commissioners of Inland Revenue shall provide forms of affidavit stamped to denote the duties payable under this Act. 30. No probate or letters of administration shall be granted by the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division unless the same bear a certificate in writing under the hand of the proper officer of the court, showing that the affidavit for the Commissioners of Inland Revenue has been delivered, and that such affidavit, if liable to stamp duty, was duly stamped, and stating the amount of the gross value of the estate and effects as shown by the account. 31. If at any time after the grant of probate or letters of return of duty administration, and during the administration of the estate, the value mentioned in the certificate of the officer of the court shall be found to exceed the true value of the personal estate and effects of the deceased, or if at any time within three years after the grant, or within such further period as the Commissioners of Inland Revenue may allow, it shall appear that no |