Prospective

23 Deposit and registration of wills of living persons.U.K.

(1)The following, namely—

(a)the Principal Registry of the Family Division of the High Court of Justice;

(b)the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland; and

(c)the Probate and Matrimonial Office of the [F1Court of Judicature] of Northern Ireland,

shall be registering authorities for the purposes of this section.

(2)Each registering authority shall provide and maintain safe and convenient depositories for the custody of the wills of living persons.

(3)Any person may deposit his will in such a depository in accordance with regulations under section 25 below and on payment of the prescribed fee.

(4)It shall be the duty of a registering authority to register in accordance with regulations under section 25 below—

(a)any will deposited in a depository maintained by the authority; and

(b)any other will whose registration is requested under Article 6 of the Registration Convention.

(5)A will deposited in a depository provided—

(a)under section 172 of the M1Supreme Court of Judicature (Consolidation) Act 1925 or section 126 of the M2[F2Senior Courts Act 1981]; or

(b)under Article 27 of the M3Administration of Estates (Northern Ireland) Order 1979,

shall be treated for the purposes of this section as if it had been deposited under this section.

(6)In this section “prescribed” means—

(a)in the application of this section to England and Wales, prescribed by an order under [F3section 92 of the Courts Act 2003];

(b)in its application to Scotland, prescribed by an order under section 26 below; and

(c)in its application to Northern Ireland, prescribed by an order under section 116 of the M4Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978.

Prospective

24 Designation of Principal Registry as national body under Registration Convention.U.K.

(1)The Principal Registry of the Family Division of the High Court of Justice shall be the national body for the purposes of the Registration Convention, and shall accordingly have the functions assigned to the national body by the Registration Convention including, without prejudice to the general application of the Convention to the Principal Registry by virtue of this section, the functions—

(a)of arranging for the registration of wills in other Contracting States as provided for in Article 6 of the Convention;

(b)of receiving and answering requests for information arising from the national bodies of other Contracting States.

(2)In this Part of this Act “the Registration Convention” means the Convention on the Establishment of a Scheme of Registration of Wills concluded at Basle on 16th May 1972.

Prospective

25 Regulations as to deposit and registration of wills etc.U.K.

(1)Regulations may make provision—

(a)as to the conditions for the deposit of a will;

(b)as to the manner of and procedure for—

(i)the deposit and registration of a will; and

(ii)the withdrawal of a will which has been deposited; and

(iii)the cancellation of the registration of a will; and

(c)as to the manner in which the Principal Registry of the Family Division is to perform its functions as the national body under the Registration Convention.

(2)Regulations under this section may contain such incidental or supplementary provisions as the authority making the regulations considers appropriate.

(3)Any such regulations are to be made—

(a)for England and Wales, by the President of the Family Division of the High Court of Justice, with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor;

(b)for Scotland, by the Secretary of State after consultation with the Lord President of the Court of Session; and

(c)for Northern Ireland, by the Northern Ireland [F4Court of Judicature] Rules Committee, with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor.

(4)Regulations made by virtue of subsection (1)(c) above shall be made by the Lord Chancellor [F5after consulting the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales].

(5)Subject to subsection (6) below, regulations under this section shall be made by statutory instrument and shall be laid before Parliament after being made.

(6)Regulations for Northern Ireland shall be statutory rules for the purposes of the M5Statutory Rules (Northern Ireland) Order 1979; and any such statutory rule shall be laid before [F6the Northern Ireland Assembly after being made].

[F7(6A)Section 41(3) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 applies for the purposes of subsection (6) in relation to the laying of a statutory rule as it applies in relation to the laying of a statutory document under an enactment.]

(7)The M6Statutory Instruments Act 1946 shall apply to a statutory instrument containing regulations made in accordance with subsection (3)(a) F8. . . above as if the regulations had been made by a Minister of the Crown.

(8)Any regulations made under section 172 of the M7Supreme Court of Judicature (Consolidation) Act 1925 or section 126 of the M8[F9Senior Courts Act 1981] shall have effect for the purposes of this Part of this Act as they have effect for the purposes of the enactment under which they were made.

[F10(9)The Lord Chief Justice may nominate a judicial office holder (as defined in section 109(4) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005) to exercise his functions under subsection (4).]