Administration of Estates Act, 1959

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR No. 8/1959
• Year: 1959

Number 8 of 1959.
ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES ACT, 1959.
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Part I
Preliminary and General
Section 1. Short title and commencement. 2. Interpretation. 3. Operation of Parts II and III of Act. 4. Minor and consequential amendments. 5. Repeals.
Part II
Devolution of Real Estate on Death
6. Devolution of real estate on death. 7. Provisions as to administration. 8. Liability for duties. 9. Exclusion of certain land. 10. Saving for section 30 of Conveyancing Act, 1881.
Part III
Executors and Administrators
11. Executor of executor represents original testator. 12. Discretionary powers to appoint administrator in certain cases. 13. Vesting of estate of intestate between death and grant of administration. 14. Administration bonds. 15. Representation of real and personal estate separately or together. 16. Power to grant representation where no estate. 17. Calendars of grants. 18. Powers of personal representatives to sell and to act as trustees. 19. Protection of bona fide purchasers. 20. General provisions as to assent or transfer by personal representatives. 21. Special provisions as to unregistered land. 22. Special provisions as to registered land. 23. Exercise of jurisdiction of Circuit Court under Part III.
Part IV
Miscellaneous Provisions
24. District probate registries. 25. Exercise, etc., of functions of the Probate Officer. 26. Amendment of section 2 (2) (d) of the Statute of Limitations, 1957.
FIRST SCHEDULE
SECOND SCHEDULE
Acts Referred to Land Act, 1946 No. 12 of 1946 Registration of Title Act, 1942 No. 26 of 1942 Courts of Justice Act, 1936 No. 48 of 1936 Court Officers Act, 1926 No. 27 of 1926 Court Officers Act, 1945 No. 25 of 1945 Court Officers Act, 1951 No. 8 of 1951 Statute of Limitations, 1957 No. 6 of 1957
Number 8 of 1959.
ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES ACT, 1959.
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE DEVOLUTION OF REAL ESTATE ON PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVES ON DEATH, TO AMEND IN CERTAIN OTHER RESPECTS THE LAW RELATING TO THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE ESTATES OF DECEASED PERSONS, TO REPEAL CERTAIN ENACTMENTS RELATING TO THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE ESTATES OF DECEASED PERSONS AND TO PROVIDE FOR OTHER RELATED MATTERS. [20th May, 1959.]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—
PART I Preliminary And General
	Short title and commencement.	1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Administration of Estates Act, 1959.
	(2) (a) This Act (except Parts II and III and section 26 in Part IV) shall come into operation immediately on the passing thereof.
	(b) Parts II and III and section 26 in Part IV of this Act shall come into operation on the 1st day of June, 1959.
	Interpretation.	2.—(1) In this Act—
	“the Act of 1891” means the Registration of Title Act, 1891;
	“the Court” means the High Court and includes, in the case of the estate of a deceased person where the Circuit Court has jurisdiction to hear and determine a suit for the administration of the estate, the Circuit Court;
	“personal representative” means the executor, original or by representation, or the administrator for the time being of a deceased person;
	“real estate” does not include money to arise upon a trust for sale of land or money secured or charged on land;
	“registered land” means land the title to which is registered under the Act of 1891;
	“the Registry of Deeds” means the registry maintained under the Registration of Deeds Act, 1707;
	“the Registration of Deeds Act, 1707” means the pre-union Irish statute (6 Anne c. 2 (Ir.)) passed in the year 1707 and entitled “An Act for the Publick Registering of all Deeds, Conveyances and Wills that shall be made of any Honors, Lands, Tenements or Hereditaments”;
	“unregistered land” means land the title to which is not registered under the Act of 1891;
	“will” includes codicil.
	(2) In this Act references to any enactment shall be construed as references to that enactment as amended or extended by any subsequent enactment.
	Operation of Parts II and III of Act.	3.— Parts II and III of this Act shall not apply to the estate of any person dying before the 1st day of June, 1959.
	Minor and consequential amendments.	4.—The enactments mentioned in column (2) of the First Schedule to this Act shall, as respects the estates of persons dying on or after the 1st day of June, 1959, have effect subject to the minor and consequential amendments specified in column (3) of that Schedule.
	Repeals.	5.—The enactments mentioned in column (2) of the Second Schedule to this Act are, as respects the estates of persons dying on or after the 1st day of June, 1959, repealed to the extent specified in column (3) of that Schedule.
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 ,
PART III Executors and Administrators
	Executor of executor represents original testator.	11.—(1) (a) An executor of a sole or last surviving executor of a testator is the executor of that testator.

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