28


East Cork


Business


info@eastcorkjournal.ie


Thursday, 26th


July 2018


all grants of probate and administration.


pose to address some of the most common questions that I come across in relation to administering an estate.


‘Probate’? Probate is the legal term


What exactly is


for the process of proving a Will. Taking out a grant of probate is the process of establishing the validity of a will to the satisfaction of the Probate Office, which is the office charged with the task of issuing


by KAREN WALSH In this article I pro-


essary to take out Probate? As a general rule, if the bank account or accounts in relation to a deceased person, contain less than €25,000 and there is no real estate, such as land or houses, the bank will release the monies to the next-of-kin on condition that an indemnity is pro- vided;


Is it always nec- in that case no


Grant of Probate or Ad- ministration is required. Banks differ on the amount that they will release with- out production of a Grant.


What about nomina- tions? Is it necessary to extract probate in the case of a nomina- tion? In many instances, the holder of an account or in-


vestment can nominate the person who will become entitled to the proceeds of that account or investment on their death. This proce- dure is most popular in the case of


credit union and


post office accounts, and often applies to some life assurance policies. Provid- ed that a valid nomination form has been completed, the


be paid out to the person named as the beneficiary under that nomination, without the production of a Grant


case of property that is jointly owned? Where a person owns


What happens in the


property jointly with an- other the most important question is whether that ownership is on the basis of joint tenancy or tenan- cy-in-common. The differ- ence is highly significant.


A surviving joint tenant will, in the absence of ex- ceptional circumstances, on the death of the other joint-tenant become auto- matically


entitled to full


ownership of the asset in question, regardless of the provisions of the deceased joint


tenant’s Will. funds will generally Joint


tenancy normally applies in the case of property owned by married couples. The vast majority of such couples now place their family home, and indeed many other assets, in their joint names as joint tenants so as to ensure that on the death of one of them, the property will automatically pass to the survivor with- out the necessity of taking out a Grant of Probate. This is both convenient and cost-effective. On the other hand,


when one tenant-in-com- mon dies there is no auto- matic right of ownership


Tel: 021 463 8000 • Email: info@eastcorkjournal.ie • Web: www.eastcorkjournal.ie


in favour of the surviving tenant-in-common.


In-


stead, the share of the de- ceased tenant-in-common will pass either under the terms of his Will, or to his next-of-kin in the event of intestacy.


probate/administration take?


How l ong does this Section 2 of the 1965


Act says that “The person- al representatives of a de- ceased person shall distrib- ute his estate as soon after his death as is reasonably practicable having regard to the nature of the estate, the manner in which it is required to be distributed and all other relevant cir- cumstances, but proceed- ings against the personal representatives in respect of their failure to distribute shall not, without leave of the court, be brought be- fore the expiration of one


year from the date of the death of the


There is a duty on the executor


to


the estate as is reasonably practicable.


tion 62 of the Succession Act 1965, the estate of a deceased person must be distributed as soon as is reasonably practicable af- ter the date of death. Ben- eficiaries under a will can- not, however, demand that the


deceased.” administer Under sec-


estate be distributed


until one year has passed from the date of death. In reality the time tak- en will depend on the size and nature of the assets in the estate.


If the person


who dies is the owner of a number of properties, including property abroad, and also has multiple bank accounts and life insurance policies, it can take consid- erable time to gather all the necessary information and valuations required to


eastcorkjournal


complete the papers that must be filed with the Pro- bate Office. In addition, where there are a large number of beneficiaries, it can also take time to secure the necessary infor- mation from them, such as their PPS numbers and details of any prior gifts and inheritances taken by them. The executor will also need to obtain clear- ance from the Department of Social Protection and the Revenue Commission- ers before the estate can be distributed.


is issued, the executor or administrator


selling


the estate. This may in- volve


Once the relevant grant distributes shares and


property, or vesting title in beneficiaries’ names, both of which have the poten- tial to be very lengthy pro- cesses.


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