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8 1959

ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES ACT, 1959

PART II

Devolution Of Real Estate On Death

Devolution of real estate on death.

6. —(1) (a) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, real estate to which a deceased person was entitled for an estate or interest not ceasing on his death shall on his death, notwithstanding any testamentary disposition, devolve on and become vested in his personal representatives from time to time as if it were a chattel real vesting in them.

(b) For the purposes of paragraph (a) of this subsection—

(i) an estate or interest in real estate which passes under any gift contained in the will of a deceased person which operates as an appointment under a general power to appoint by will shall be deemed to be an estate or interest not ceasing on his death to which he was entitled,

(ii) an estate or interest in real estate of a deceased person under an estate tail shall be deemed to be an estate or interest ceasing on his death, but any further estate or interest of the deceased in remainder or reversion in that real estate which is capable of being disposed of by his will shall be deemed to be an estate or interest not so ceasing,

(iii) an estate or interest of a deceased person under a joint tenancy where any tenant survives the deceased shall be deemed to be an estate or interest ceasing on his death,

(iv) on the death of a corporator sole his estate or interest in the corporation's real estate shall be deemed to be an estate or interest ceasing on his death.

(2) References in the subsequent sections of this Part of this Act to the real estate of a deceased person shall be construed as references to the real estate of the deceased which devolves on his personal representatives by virtue of subsection (1) of this section.

Provisions as to administration.

7. —(1) Subject to the powers, rights, duties and liabilities hereinafter mentioned in this Act, the personal representatives of a deceased person shall hold his real estate as trustees for the persons by law entitled thereto, and those persons shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, have the same power of requiring a transfer of real estate as persons entitled to personal estate have of requiring a transfer of such personal estate.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this Act, all enactments and rules of law relating to—

(a) the effect of probate or letters of administration as respects chattels real,

(b) the dealing with chattels real before probate or letters of administration,

(c) the powers, rights, duties and liabilities of personal representatives in respect of personal estate,

(d) the payment of costs of administration, and

(e) all other matters in relation to the administration of personal estate,

shall, so far as the same are applicable, apply to real estate as if it were a chattel real.

(3) (a) In the administration of the assets of a person dying on or after the 1st day of June, 1959, his real estate shall be administered in the same manner, subject to the same liabilities for debts, costs and expenses and with the same incidents, as if it were personal estate.

(b) Nothing in paragraph (a) of this subsection shall alter or affect the order in which real and personal assets respectively are immediately before the 1st day of June, 1959, applicable in or towards the payment of funeral and testamentary expenses, debts or legacies, or the liability of real estate to be charged with the payment of legacies.

(4) Where a person dies possessed of real estate, the High Court shall, in granting letters of administration, have regard to the rights and interests of persons interested in his real estate, and his heir-at-law, if not one of the next-of -kin, shall be equally entitled to the grant with the next-of-kin, and provision may be made by rules of court for adapting the procedure and practice in the grant of letters of administration to the case of real estate.

Liability for duties.

8. —Nothing in this Part of this Act shall affect any duty payable in respect of real estate or impose on real estate any other duty than is payable in respect thereof immediately before the 1st day of June, 1959.

Exclusion of certain land.

9. —Nothing in this Part of this Act shall apply to—

(a) land to which Part IV of the Act of 1891 applies, or

(b) an interest in a parcel of untenanted land which, under section 5 of the Land Act, 1946 (No. 12 of 1946), is, for the purposes of devolution on death, to be deemed to be a chattel real.

Saving for section 30 of Conveyancing Act, 1881.

10. Nothing in this Part of this Act shall affect the operation of section 30 of the Conveyancing Act, 1881,