The Administration of Estates Act 1925 (15 & 16 Geo. 5. c. 23) is an act passed in 1925 by the British Parliament that consolidated, reformed, and simplified the rules relating to the administration of estates in England and Wales.
Principal reforms
editAll authority that a personal representative had with respect to chattels real (such as fixtures) was extended to cover any matter dealing with real estate as well.[1]
With respect to the property of any estate (excepting entailed interests), there were abolished:[2]
- all existing rules of descent (whether arising from the common law, custom, gavelkind, Borough English or otherwise)
- tenancy by the curtesy and any other estate a husband may have where his wife dies intestate
- dower, freebench and any other estate a wife may have where her husband dies intestate
- escheat to the Crown, the Duchy of Lancaster, the Duchy of Cornwall, or to a mesne lord
The rules governing the distribution of intestate estates were replaced by a single statutory framework.[3]
Later significant amendments
editThe Act has been subsequently amended in certain respects by the following:
In fiction
editThe Act plays a major role (as the 'Property Act') in the 1927 mystery novel Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers, its commencement with respect to intestate estates providing the motive for a seemingly motiveless murder which Lord Peter Wimsey must solve.
See also
editReferences
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