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Administration of Estates Act 1925

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Part VE+W Supplemental

53 General savings.E+W

(1)Nothing in this Act shall derogate from the powers of the High Court which exist independently of this Act or alter the distribution of business between the several divisions of the High Court, or operate to transfer any jurisdiction from the High Court to any other court.

(2)Nothing in this Act shall affect any unrepealed enactment in a public general Act dispensing with probate or administration as respects personal estate not including chattels real.

[F1(3)Nothing in this Act shall—

(a)alter any death duty payable in respect of real estate or impose any new duty thereon:

(b)render any real estate liable to legacy duty or exempt it from succession duty:

(c)alter the incidence of any death duties.]

Textual Amendments

F1S. 53(3) repealed in relation to deaths occurring after 13.4.1975 and, so far as regards certain duties in relation to any death, by Finance Act 1975 (c. 7, SIF 63:1), ss. 52(2), 59, Sch. 13 Pt. I, note (with a saving in s. 52(3) in relation to repayment or allowance in respect of certain sums paid before 13.3.1975 on account)

54 Application of Act.E+W

Save as otherwise expressly provided, this Act does not apply in any case where the death occurred before the commencement of this Act.

55 Definitions.E+W

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby assigned to them respectively, that is to say:—

(1)(i)Administration” means, with reference to the real and personal estate of a deceased person, letters of administration, whether general or limited, or with the will annexed or otherwise:

(ii)Administrator” means a person to whom administration is granted:

(iii)Conveyance” includes a mortgage, charge by way of legal mortgage, lease, assent, vesting, declaration, vesting instrument, disclaimer, release and every other assurance of property or of an interest therein by any instrument, except a will, and “convey” has a corresponding meaning, and “disposition” includes a “conveyance” also a devise bequest and an appointment of property contained in a will, and “dispose of” has a corresponding meaning:

[F2(iiiA)the County Court limit”, in relation to any enactment contained in this Act, means the amount for the time being specified by an Order in Council under section 145 of the County Courts Act 1984 as the county court limit for the purposes of that enactment (or, where no such Order in Council has been made, the corresponding limit specified by Order in Council under section 192 of the County Courts Act 1959); ]

(iv)the Court” means the High Court, and also the county court, where that court has jurisdiction, F3. . .:

(v)Income” includes rents and profits:

(vi)Intestate” includes a person who leaves a will but dies intestate as to some beneficial interest in his real or personal estate:

[F4(via)Land” has the same meaning as in the M1 Law of Property Act 1925; ]

(vii)Legal estates” mean the estates charges and interests in or over land (subsisting or created at law) which are by statute authorised to subsist or to be created at law; and “equitable interests” mean all other interests and charges in or over land F5. . .:

F6(viii). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(ix)Pecuniary legacy” includes an annuity, a general legacy, a demonstrative legacy so far as it is not discharged out of the designated property, and any other general direction by a testator for the payment of money, including all death duties free from which any devise, bequest, or payment is made to take effect:

[F7(x)Personal chattels” means tangible movable property, other than any such property which—

  • consists of money or securities for money, or

  • was used at the death of the intestate solely or mainly for business purposes, or

  • was held at the death of the intestate solely as an investment:]

(xi)Personal representative” means the executor, original or by representation, or administrator for the time being of a deceased person, and as regards any liability for the payment of death duties includes any person who takes possession of or intermeddles with the property of a deceased person without the authority of the personal representatives or the court, and “executor” includes a person deemed to be appointed executor as respects settled land:

(xii)Possession” includes the receipt of rents and profits or the right to receive the same, if any:

(xiii)Prescribed” means prescribed by rules of court F8. . .:

(xiv)Probate” means the probate of a will:

F9(xv). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F10(xvi). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(xvii)Property” includes a thing in action and any interest in real or personal property:

(xviii)Purchaser” means a lessee, mortgagee or other person who in good faith acquires an interest in property for valuable consideration, also an intending purchaser and “valuable consideration” includes marriage,[F11and formation of a civil partnership,] but does not include a nominal consideration in money:

(xix)“Real estate” save as provided in Part IV of this Act means real estate, including chattels real, which by virtue of Part I of this Act devolves on the personal representative of a deceased person:

(xx)Representation” means the probate of a will and administration, and the expression “taking out representation” refers to the obtaining of the probate of a will or of the grant of administration:

(xxi)Rent” includes a rent service or a rentcharge, or other rent, toll, duty, or annual or periodical payment in money or money’s worth, issuing out of or charged upon land, but does not include mortgage interest; and “rentcharge” includes a fee farm rent:

F10(xxii). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(xxiii)Securities” include stocks, funds, or shares:

(xxiv)“Tenant for life,” “statutory owner,” F12. . . “settled land,” “settlement,” “trustees of the settlement,” “term of years absolute,” “death duties,” and “legal mortgage,” have the same meanings as in the M2Settled Land Act, 1925, and “entailed interest” and “charge by way of legal mortgage” have the same meanings as in the M3Law of Property Act, 1925:

(xxv)Treasury solicitor” means the solicitor for the affairs of His Majesty’s Treasury, and includes the solicitor for the affairs of the Duchy of Lancaster:

(xxvi)Trust corporation” means the public trustee or a corporation either appointed by the court in any particular case to be a trustee or entitled by rules made under subsection (3) of section four of the M4Public Trustee Act, 1906, to act as custodian trustee:

F13(xxvii). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(xxviii)Will” includes codicil.

(2)References to a child or issue living at the death of any person include a child or issue enventre sa mere at the death.

(3)References to the estate of a deceased person include property over which the deceased exercises a general power of appointment (including the statutory power to dispose of entailed interests) by his will.

Textual Amendments

F4S. 55(1)(via) inserted (1.1.1997) by 1996 c. 47, s. 25(1), Sch. 3 para. 6(5) (with ss. 24(2), 25(4)); S.I. 1996/2974, art. 2

F5Words in s. 55(1)(vii) repealed (1.1.1997) by 1996 c. 47, s. 25(2), Sch. 4 (with ss. 24(2), 25(4)); S.I. 1996/2974, art. 2

F9S. 55(1)(xv) repealed (1.7.1995) by 1994 c. 36, s. 21(1)(2), Sch. 2; S.I. 1995/1317, art. 2

F12Word in s. 55(1)(xxiv) repealed (1.1.1997) by 1996 c. 47, s. 25(2), Sch. 4 (with ss. 24(2), 25(4)); S.I. 1996/2974, art. 2

F13S. 55(1)(xxvii) repealed (1.1.1997) by 1996 c. 47, s. 25(2), Sch. 4 (with ss. 24(2), 25(4)); S.I. 1996/2974, art. 2

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1S. 55(1) modified (31.10.2022) by 2011 c. 25, s. 334A(2) (as inserted by Charities Act 2022 (c. 6), ss. 32(1), 41(4) (with s. 32(2)); S.I. 2022/1109, Sch. para. 7)

C2S. 55(1)(vi) applied (8.11.1995) by 1995 c. 41, s. 1(5)

C3S. 55(1)(xxvi) extended by Law of Property (Amendment) Act 1926 (c. 11), s. 3, S.I. 1952/862 (1952 II, p. 2322) and Clergy Pensions Measure 1961 (No. 3), s. 31

C4S. 55(1)(xxvi): definition of "trust corporation" extended (1.9.1992) by Charities Act 1960 (c. 58), s. 21A(e) (as inserted (1.9.1992) by Charities Act 1992 (c. 41), s. 14(1); S.I. 1992/1900, art. 2(1), Sch. 1)

S. 55(1)(xxvi): definition of "trust corporation" extended (retrospectively) by 1993 c. 10, ss. 35(1)(d), 99(1).

C5S. 55(1)(xxvi): definition of "trust corporation" extended (retrospectively) by Charities Act 2011 (c. 25), Sch. 7 para. 3 (with s. 20(2), Sch. 8)

C6S. 55(1)(xxvi) modified by 2010 c. 32, s. 12(1A)(1B) (as inserted (1.2.2012) by Education Act 2011 (c. 21), s. 82(3), Sch. 14 para. 20(2); S.I. 2012/84, art. 3 (with art. 5))

C7S. 55(1)(xxvi) definition extended (coming into force in accordance with s. 53(3) of the amending Measure) by Cathedrals Measure 2021 (No. 2), Sch. 1 para. 7(d) (with ss. 42(4), 48, 52(1))

Marginal Citations

56 Repeal.E+W

The Acts mentioned in the Second Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule, but as respects the Acts mentioned in Part I of that Schedule only so far as they apply to deaths occurring after the commencement of this Act.

57 Application to Crown.E+W

(1)The provisions of this Act bind the Crown and the Duchy of Lancaster, and the Duke of Cornwall for the time being, as respects the estates of persons dying after the commencement of this Act, but not so as to affect the time within which proceedings for the recovery of real or personal estate vesting in or devolving on His Majesty in right of His Crown, to His Duchy of Lancaster, or on the Duke of Cornwall, may be instituted.

(2)Nothing in this Act in any manner affects or alters the descent or devolution of any property for the time being vested in His Majesty either in right of the Crown or of the Duchy of Lancaster or of any property for the time being belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall.

58 Short title, commencement and extent.E+W

(1)This Act may be cited as the Administration of Estates Act, 1925.

(2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F14

(3)This Act extends to England and Wales only.

Textual Amendments

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