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Powers of personal representatives to sell and to act as trustees.
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18.—(1) The personal representatives may sell the whole or any part of the real or personal estate of a deceased person for the purpose not only of paying debts, but also (whether there are or are not debts) of distributing the estate among the persons beneficially entitled thereto, and before selling for the purposes of distribution the personal representatives shall, so far as practicable, give effect to the wishes of the persons of full age beneficially entitled to the property proposed to be sold or, in the case of dispute, of the majority (according to the value of their combined interests) of such persons so, however, that—
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(a) a purchaser shall not be concerned to see that the personal representatives have complied with such wishes; and
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(b) it shall not be necessary for any person beneficially entitled to concur in any such sale.
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(2) (a) It shall not be lawful for some or one only of several joint personal representatives, without leave of the Court, to exercise any power conferred by subsection (1) of this section to sell any land, save that where probate is granted to one or several persons named as executors, whether or not power is reserved to the other or others to prove, the sale of the land may, notwithstanding any other provision or rule of law to the contrary, be made by the proving executor or executors, without leave of the Court, as fully and effectually as if all the persons named as executors had concurred therein.
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(b) Where a sale of land is made under paragraph (a) of this subsection by the proving executor or executors, subsection (1) of this section shall have effect as if the references therein to personal representatives were references to the proving executor or executors.
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(3) Where one of two or more proving executors has died, references in subsection (2) of this section to a proving executor or executors shall be construed as references to the survivor or survivors (as the case may be) of the proving executors.
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(4) Where land is settled by will and there are no trustees of the settlement, the personal representatives proving the will shall for all purposes be deemed to be trustees of the settlement until trustees of the settlement are appointed, but a sole personal representative shall not be deemed to be a trustee for the purposes of the Settled Land Acts, 1882 to 1890, until at least one other trustee is appointed.
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