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PROBATE DUTY (IRELAND) ACT 1816
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CHAPTER LVI.
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An Act to repeal the several Stamp Duties in Ireland, and also several Acts for the Collection and Management of the said Duties, and to grant new Stamp Duties in lieu thereof; and to make more effectual Regulations for collecting and managing the said Duties. [20th June 1816.]
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[Preamble and ss. 1–114 rep. 33 & 34 Vict. c. 99. S. 2 granted the duties stated in the Schedule, and s. 4 provided that the said duties should be under the management of the commissioners of stamps in Ireland.]
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Duty on probates, &c. to be payable only in respect of the value of such estate as shall be situated in Ireland.
Probate to be obtained from proper court.
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115. The several stamp duties from time to time imposed by law in Ireland upon any probates or letters of administration, or receipts for legacies or shares or proportions of any estate or effects, shall be deemed and taken to be chargeable and charged and payable and paid only in respect of the amount or value of such estate and effects as shall be situated in Ireland, and of such legacies as shall be payable out of estates and effects in Ireland; and no person shall be deemed or taken to have proved any will in Ireland until he shall have obtained probate thereof from the proper ecclesiastical court in Ireland.
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Probate, &c. to be effectual for recoveringtrust property not included in the amount on which duty was paid.
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116. The probate of the will of any person deceased or the letters of administration of the effects of any person deceased heretofore granted or to be hereafter granted in Ireland shall be deemed and taken to be valid and available by the executors or administrators of the deceased for recovering, transferring, or assigning any debt or debts or other personal estate or effects whereof or whereto the deceased was possessed or entitled either wholly or partially as a trustee, notwithstanding that the amount or value of such debt or debts or other personal estate or effects or the amount or value of so much thereof or such interest therein as was trust property in the deceased (as the case may be) shall not be included in the amount or value of the estate in respect of which the stamp duty was paid on such probate or letters of administration.
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Affidavit to be made before granting probate, &c. that the estate and effects of the deceased are under the value of a specified sum,
and duty to be ascertained according to such sum.
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117. From and alter the commencement or this Act, no ecclesiastical court or jurisdiction in Ireland shall grant probate of the will or letters of administration of the estate and effects of any person deceased, without first requiring and receiving from the person or persons applying for the probate or letters of administration, or from some other competent person or persons, an affidavit or solemn affirmation in the case of Quakers, that the estate and effects of the deceased, for or in respect of which the probate or letters of administration is or are to be granted, are under the value of a certain sum to be specified in such affidavit, to the best of the deponent's or affirmant's knowledge, information, and belief, and according to the account to be annexed to such affidavit, according to which sum the stamp duty shall be ascertained which shall be then required on such probate or letters of administration, which affidavit or affirmation shall be made before the surrogate or other person who shall administer the usual oath for the due administration of the estate and effects of the deceased.
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[Ss. 118–;120 rep. 53 & 54 Vict. c. 33. (S.L.R.); as to ss. 119, 120 see terms of repeal.]
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Letters of administration on which too little duty has been paid, not to be duly stamped until administrator has given proper security.
Accounts of probates, &c. on which stamps have been rectified, to be transmitted to courts.
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121. Provided always, that in cases of letters of administration on which too little stamp duty shall have been paid at first, the said commissioners of stamps shall not cause the same to be duly stamped in the manner aforesaid, until the administrator shall have given such security to the ecclesiastical court or ordinary by whom the letters of administration shall have been granted, as ought by law to have been given on the granting thereof in case the full value of the estate and effects of the deceased had been then ascertained; and also that the said commissioners of stamps shall yearly or oftener transmit an account of the probates or letters of administration, upon which the stamps shall have been rectified in pursuance of this Act, to the several ecclesiastical courts by which the same shall have been granted, together with the value of the estate and effects of the deceased upon which such ratification shall have proceeded.
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Where too little duty has been paid through mis-take, executors, &c. not applying within six months after discovery of the mistake to be liable to penalty.
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122. Where too little duty shall have been paid on such probate or letters of administration in consequence of any mistake or mis-apprehension, or of its not being known at the time that some particular part of the estate and effects belonged to the deceased, if any executor or administrator acting under such probate of letters of administration shall not, within six calendar months after the passing of this Act or after the discovery of the mistake or mis-apprehension or of any estate or effects not known at the time to have belonged to the deceased, apply to the said commissioners of stamps, and pay what shall be wanting to make up the duty which ought to have been paid at first on such probate or letters of administration, he or she shall forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds, and also a further sum at and after the rate of ten pounds per centum on the amount of the sum wanting to make up the proper duty.
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Credit may be given for the duty on probates, &c. in certain cases.
Security to be given by executors, &c.
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123. And whereas it has happened in the case of letters of administration on which the proper stamp duty hath not been paid at first, that certain debts, chattels real or other effects, due or belonging to the deceased, have been found to be of such great value that the administrator hath not been possessed of money sufficient, either of his own or of the deceased, to pay the requisite stamp duty, in order to render such letters of administration available for the recovery thereof by law: And whereas the like may occur again, and it may also happen that executors of persons entitled to take out letters of administration may, before obtaining probate of the will or letters of administration of the estate and effects of the deceased, find some considerable part or parts of the estate and effects of the deceased so circumstanced as not to be immediately got possession of, and may not have money sufficient, either of their own or of the deceased, to pay the stamp duty on the probate or letters of administration which it shall be necessary to obtain: Be it therefore further enacted, that it shall be lawful for the commissioners of stamps, on satisfactory proof of the facts by affidavit or solemn affirmation, in any such case as aforesaid which may appear to them to require relief, to cause the probate or letters of administration to be duly stamped for denoting the duty payable or which ought originally to have been paid thereon, and to give credit for the duty, either upon payment of the before-mentioned penalty, or without, in cases of probates or letters of administration already obtained and upon which too little duty shall have been paid, and either with or without allowance of the stamp duty already paid thereon, as the case may require under the provisions of this Act; provided in all such cases of credit the security be first given by the executors or administrators, together with two or more sufficient sureties to be approved of by the said commissioners, by a bond to his Majesty, in double the amount of the duty, for the due and full payment of the sum for which credit shall be given, within six calendar months or any less period, and of the interest for the same at the rate of ten pounds per centum per annum from the expiration of such period until payment thereof, in case of any default of payment at the time appointed; and such probate or letters of administration having been duly stamped in the manner aforesaid, shall be as valid and available as if the proper duty had been at first paid thereon and the same had been stamped accordingly.
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Time of credit may be extended.
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124. Provided always, that if at the expiration of the time to be allowed for the payment of the duty on such probate or letters of administration it shall appear to the satisfaction of the said commissioners that the executor or administrator to whom such credit shall be given as aforesaid shall not have recovered effects of the deceased to an amount sufficient for the payment of the duty, it shall be lawful for the said commissioners to give such further time for the payment thereof, and upon such terms and conditions, as they shall think expedient.
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Probate, &c. when credit is given, to be deposited with the commissioners.
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125. Provided also, that the probate or letters of administration, so to be stamped on credit as aforesaid, shall be deposited with the said-commissioners of stamps, and shall not be delivered up to the executor or administrator, until payment of the duty, together with such interest as aforesaid, if any shall become due; but the same shall nevertheless be produced in evidence by some officer of the commissioners of stamps, at the expence of the executor or administrator, as occasion shall require.
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Duty for which credit is given to be a preferable debt.
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126. The duty for which credit shall be given as aforesaid shall be á debt to his Majesty, from the personal estate of the deceased, and shall be paid in preference to and before any other debt whatsoever due from the said eatate; and if any executor or administrator of the estate of the deceased shall pay any other debt in preference thereto, he or she shall not only be charged with and be liable to pay the duty out of his or her own estate, but shall also forfeit the sum of five hundred pounds.
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Stamping and deposit, &c. of letters of administration de bonis non, in cases where credit is given.
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127. It, before payment or the duty for which credit shall be given in any such case as aforesaid, it shall become necessary to take out letters of administration de bonis non of the deceased, it shall also be lawful for the said commissioners of stamps to cause such letters of administration de bonis non to be duly stamped with the particular stamp provided to be used on letters of administration of that kind for denoting the payment of the duty in respect of the effects of the deceased on some prior probate or letters of administration of the same effect, in such and the same manner as if the duty had been actually paid, upon having the letters of administration de bonis non deposited with the said commissioners, and upon having such further security for the payment of the duty as they shall think expedient; and such letters of administration shall be as valid and available as if the duty for which credit shall be given had been paid.
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Executors, &c. to deliver to the commissioners an account of the personal estate, &c. of the deceased, and all payments made thereout, and commissioners to assess duty thereon.
Proceedings may be instituted for the recovery of outstanding duties payable on legacies or annuities.
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128. Every executor and administrator or other person or persons, having or taking the burthen or execution of the will or testamentary instrument or the administration of the personal estate of any person deceased, shall, before such executor, administrator, or other person shall retain for their own use or for the benefit of any other person or persons, or shall transfer, pay, deliver, satisfy, or otherwise discharge the residue of the personal estate, and the residue of monies arising from the sale or mortgage of any real estate, directed by any testamentary instrument to be sold or mortgaged, or any certain proportional part of such residue, to the person or persons entitled thereto, deliver to the commissioners of stamp duties or their officers a full and just account of the personal estate of the deceased and of the monies arising from the sale or mortgage of real estate, or the value of the real estate, if not sold, when the same is directed by the will or other testamentary instrument of the deceased to be absolutely sold or mortgaged, and of all lawful payments made out of such personal estate, and the monies arising from the sale or mortgage of such real estate, on the forms printed for such accounts by order of the said commissioners of stamp duties, when and as far as such forms can be made applicable to the account to be delivered, and when they will not so apply, the account may be rendered in such form as shall sufficiently answer the purposes desired; and the said commissioners or their officers shall examine such account, and if it shall appear to them to be a just and proper account, they shall assess the duty thereon, but if the commissioners shall not be satisfied with the account delivered, it shall be lawful for them to require an account to be rendered on oath or affirmation, which oath or affirmation shall be according to the form prescribed in the schedule hereunto annexed, and shall be administered by a justice of the peace, or master or masters extraordinary in Chancery; and if it shall appear by the books of the said commissioners that there are any outstanding duties due and payable on legacies or annuities, it shall be lawful for the said commissioners to require payment of such duties within a specified time; and that if after such requisition the same shall not be paid, or cause shewn to the satisfaction of the commissioners within the time specified why the same should not be paid, it shall be lawful for the said commissioners to institute proceedings in his Majesty's Court of Exchequer against the executors or administrators or person or persons taking the burthen of the execution of the will or administration of the personal estate of the deceased or acting as trustee or trustees, and also against the legatee to whom the legacy or annuity upon which such duty shall appear to be unpaid shall have been given, if the circumstances of the case require it, for the payment of the duty; and if after such proceedings shall be instituted it shall be shewn that by reason of the death of the legatee or annuitant in the lifetime of the deceased, or of the legacy not being of the value of twenty pounds, or from any other cause, no duty is payable, it shall be lawful for the court in which such suit shall be instituted to order all costs, charges, and expences attending such proceedings to be paid by the person or persons of whom the said commissioners shall have required payment of the duty, by way of penalty for not having, after such requisition, shewn to the satisfaction of the commissioners that no duty was payable on such legacy or annuity.
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Where it is proved that the estate of the deceased is reduced bypayment of debts so that a less stamp duty would have sufficed, the difference shall he returned.
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129. Provided always, that where it shall be proved by oath of proper vouchers, to the satisfaction of the said commissioners of stamps, that an executor or administrator hath paid debts due and owing from the deceased, and payable by law, out of his or her personal or moveable estate, to such an amount as being deducted from the amount or value of the estate and effects of the deceased, for or in respect of which a probate or letters of administration shall have been granted after the commencement of this Act, shall reduce the same to a sum which, if it had been the whole gross amount or value of such estate and effects, would have occasioned a less stamp duty to be paid on such probate or letter of administration than shall have been actually paid thereon under and by virtue of this Act, it shall be lawful for the said commissioners to return the difference, provided the same shall be claimed within three years after the date of such probate or letters of administration as aforesaid; but where by reason of any proceeding at law or in equity the debts due from the deceased shall not have been ascertained and paid, or the effects of the deceased shall not have been recovered and. made available, and in consequence thereof the executor or administrator shall be prevented from claiming such return of duty as aforesaid within the said term of three years, it shall be lawful for the commissioners of stamps to allow such further time for making the claim as may appear to them to be reasonable under the circumstances of the case.
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Executors, &c. may transfer, &c. stocks or funds held by the deceased as trustee, on making an affidavit of the fact;
and may recover or assign debts, &c. owing to the deceased as trustee, on making a like affidavit.
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130. Where the executors or administrators of any person deceased shall be desirous of transferring or of receiving the dividends of any share standing in the name of the deceased of and in any of the government or parliamentary stocks or funds transferrable at the Bank of Ireland, or of and in the stock and funds of the Bank of Ireland, or of and in the stock or funds of any other company, corporation, or society whatsoever, passing by transfer in the books of such company, corporation, or society, under and by virtue of any such probate or letters of administration as aforesaid, and shall alledge that the deceased was possessed thereof or entitled thereto either wholly or partially as a trustee, it shall be lawful for the Bank of Ireland, and for any such other company, corporation, or society as aforesaid, or their respective officers, for their indemnity and protection, to require such affidavit or affirmation of the fact as herein-after is mentioned, if the fact shall not otherwise satisfactorily appear, and thereupon to permit such executors or administrators to transfer the stock or fund in question, or receive the dividends thereof, without regard to the amount of the stamp duty on the probate of the will of the deceased or letters of administration of his or her effects; and where the executors or administrators of any person deceased shall have occasion to recover any debt or debts, or any other personal effects, due or apparently belonging to the deceased, and shall alledge that the deceased was possessed thereof or entitled thereto either wholly or partially as a trustee, it shall be lawful for the person or persons liable to pay or deliver such debt or debts or other effects to require such affidavit or affirmation of the fact as herein-after is mentioned, if the fact shall not otherwise satisfactorily appear, and thereupon to pay, deliver, or make over the debt or debts or other effects in question to such executors or administrators, or as they shall direct, without regard to the amount of the stamp duty on the probate of the will of the deceased or the letters of administration of his or her effects; and where the executors or administrators of any person deceased shall have occasion to assign or transfer any debt or debts due to the deceased, or any chattels real or other personal effects whereof or whereto the deceased was possessed or entitled, and shall alledge that the same respectively was or were due to or vested in the deceased either wholly or partially as a trustee, it shall be lawful for the person or persons, to whom or for whose use such debt or debts, chattels real or other personal effects shall be proposed to be assigned or transferred, to require such affidavit or affirmation of the fact as herein-after is mentioned, if the fact shall not otherwise satisfactorily appear, and thereupon to accept the proposed assignment or transfer, without regard to the amount of the stamp duty on the probate of the will of the deceased or the letters of administration of his or her effects in Ireland.
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Special affidavit to be made by executors, &c. in cases of property held by the deceased as trustee.
Penalty for false affidavit.
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131. Upon any such requisition as aforesaid the executor or executors, administrator or administrators of the deceased, or some other person or persons to whom the facts shall be known, shall make a special affidavit or affirmation of the facts and circumstances of the case, stating the property in question, and that the deceased had not any beneficial interest whatever in the same, or had no other beneficial interest therein than shall be particularly mentioned and set forth (as the case may be), but was possessed thereof or entitled thereto either wholly or in part (as the case may be) in trust for some other person or persons whose name or names or other sufficient description shall be specified in such affidavit or affirmation, or for such purposes as shall be specified therein; and that the beneficial interest of the deceased (if any) in the property in question doth not exceed a certain value, to be therein also specified according to the best estimate that can be made thereof if reversionary or contingent, and that the amount or value of the estate for which the stamp duty was paid on the probate of the will of the deceased, or on the letters of administration of his or her effects, is sufficient to include and cover such beneficial interest of the deceased as well as the rest of the personal estate, whereof or whereto the deceased was beneficially possessed or entitled, and for which such probate or letters of administration shall have been granted, as far as the same have come to the knowledge of such executor or executors, administrator or administrators; and where the affidavit or affirmation of the facts and circumstances of the trusts shall be made by any other person than the executor or executors, administrator or administrators of the deceased, such executor or executors, administrator or administrators shall make affidavit or affirmation that the same are true to the best of his, her, or their knowledge and belief, and that the property in question is intended to be applied and disposed of accordingly; which affidavit or affirmation shall be sworn or made before a master in Chancery, ordinary or extraordinary (who is hereby authorized to take the same and administer the proper oath or affirmation for that purpose), and shall be delivered to the party or parties requiring the same, and shall be sufficient to indemnify and protect the party or parties requiring the same, and also the party or parties acting upon the faith thereof; and if any person or persons making any such affidavit or affirmation as aforesaid shall knowingly and wilfully make a false oath or affirmation of or concerning any of the matters to be therein specified and set forth every person so offending and being thereof lawfully convicted shall be subject and liable to such pains and penalties as persons convicted of wilful and corrupt perjury shall then be subject and liable to by or under any law then in force.
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[Ss. 132–152 rep. 33 & 34 Vict. c. 99.]
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