Analysis
By her last will and testament, dated 22 February 2013, the deceased bequeathed a number of pecuniary legacies of between £5,000 and £30,000, totalling £260,000. The residue of the deceased’s estate was shared by three beneficiaries, although the main residuary beneficiary had predeceased the deceased, creating a partial intestacy. The issue before the court was whether, as a matter of statutory interpretation, s30(3) of the Administration of Estates Act (Northern Ireland) 1955 meant that the property of the deceased undisposed of by her will should be applied in the first instance to the payment of the pecuniary legacies.
Held:
Under the Administration of Estates Act (Northern Ireland) 1955 pecuniary legacies were properly payable out of the whole of the residue of the deceased’s estate and not out of a share of the estate that had lapsed to partial intestacy. Prior to 1956 any pecuniary legacy was satisfied out of the testator’s general personal estate, and it did not matter whether there was a lapse of any gift of personalty which caused partial intestacy as the legacy was paid out of the whole of the residuary personalty, and there was no general right to be paid out of any part of the real estate. Although it was well recognised that the courts in Northern Ireland will treat the decisions of the Court of Appeal in England and Wales as being strongly persuasive and will follow them unless there is good reason not to do so, the Administration of Estates Act (Northern Ireland) 1955 differed from the Administration of Estates Act 1925, and in particular there was no equivalent of s33 of the Administration of Estates Act 1925. Giving the words of s30 of the Administration of Estates Act (Northern Ireland) 1955 their plain and ordinary meaning, it says nothing about the payment of pecuniary legacies and it does not purport to change the pre-1956 position unless ‘liabilities’ can be construed to include pecuniary legacies, which was untenable. The liabilities of an estate are the legal obligations owed to third parties, claims which could be enforceable against the estate and which are payable out of the gross estate. Legacies are a matter of distribution of the net estate and cannot be properly regarded as liabilities (paras 10, 19-21, 33-40).
JUDGMENT HUMPHREYS J: Introduction [1] Mary Teresa Toner, known as Maureen, died on 27 September 2017 leaving as her last Will a statutory will executed on 22 February 2013 (‘the Will’). On 3 July 2019 Letters of Administration with Will annexed were granted to the plaintiff. [2] By an originating summons issued on 22 July …Continue reading "Re Toner (deceased) [2021] WTLR 1535"