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Administration of Small Estates Act


Published: 1944

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Administration of Small Estates (CAP. 8 1

CHAPTER 8

T H E ADMINISTRATION O F SMALL ESTATES ACT

Arrangement of Sections
Section

1 . Short title.
2 , Interpretation.
3 . Application for grant of letters of administration.
4. Grant of probate.
5. Duties and powers of Registrar.
6. Investigation and report by Registrar.
7 . Special fee for grant.
8. Offence.

ADMINISTRATION O F SMALL ESTATES

(29th July, 1944.)

1. This Act may be cited as the Administration of Short title.
Small Estates Act.

2. In this Act- Interpretation.
"letters of administration" comprehends all letters of

administration of the estate of deceased persons
whether with or without the will annexed and
whether granted for general, special or limited
purposes;

"small estate" means all the property, real and per-
sonal, of a deceased person which does not exceed
two thousand five hundred dollars in value.

LAWS OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA

2 CAP. 8 ) Administration of Small Estates

Application for 3. (1) In any case where a person dies intestate leav-
grant of letters of

ing a small estate, an application may be made to the
Registrar at any time not earlier than one month after the
death of such person for a grant of letters of administration
in respect of such estate.

(2) An application under the preceding subsection may
be made by any person being the husband, wife, issue, father,
mother, or issue of the father or mother, of the deceased
person.

Grant of probate. 4. Probate of the will of any deceased person leaving
a small estate may, upon application and upon production
of the will and of an affidavit verifying the due execution
thereof, be issued to the executor named in the will or, in
any case where it shall appear to the Judge to be necessary
or proper so to do, the Judge may appoint an administrator
of the estate and direct letters of administration with the will
annexed to be issued to him.

Duties and
powers of
Registrar.

5 . It shall be the duty of the Registrar to whom
application is made if requested so to do by the applicant,
to assist the applicant in filling up such papers as may be
necessary to lead to a grant of letters of administration or
of probate, as the case may be, and, for that purpose, he
may require the applicant to furnish him with a statement
and give such other proof, as he may consider necessary,
of the value of the estate, of the identity of the applicant
and, where necessary, of his relationship to the deceased;

Provided that there shall not be required-

(a) any bond;

(b) any declaration on oath as to the value of the
estate; or

(c) any administrator's or executor's oath.

Investigation and 6. After investigation of the application the Registrar
report by
Registrar. shall prepare a report and shall lay it before a Judge and

the Judge shall, if he is satisfied that the application ought
to be granted, give a direction accordingly.

special fee for 7. Anything in any Act to the contrary notwithstand-
grant. ing, the fee to be paid in respect of a grant of letters of

LAWS OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA

Administration of Small Estates (CAP. 8 3

administration or of probate (including any application
therefor) under the provisions of this Act shall be the sum
of twenty dollars and there shall not be payable any other
duties, fees or charges of any description whatsoever.

8. Any person who, for the purpose of deriving the Offence.
benefit conferred by this Act, knowingly makes to the
Registrar any statement which is false in any material par-
ticular shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on summary
conviction, be liable to a fine of one thousand dollars and
to imprisonment for six months.