CO129-567-10 Companies Amendment Ordinance- draft bill 15-9-1938 - 28-9-1938 — Page 104

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heard of for a period of seven years or more may be accepted by him as conclusive proof of the death of such depositor. Any payment which may be made under these Regulations in reliance on such statement or information as aforesaid shall be a good discharge to the Postmaster-General for the sum paid not- withstanding that the depositor may be in fact alive at the time of such payment. In this Regulation and in Regulation 80 hereof the expression depositor includes any person beneficially deceased interested at any time in the personal estate of a depositor or who, in certain circumstances, would be or would have been beneficially interested at any time in the personal estate of a deceased depositor.

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Law applic

80. In the event of the death of a depositor, any payment able on death under these Regulations made in accordance with the law of of depositor. the place in which the depositor resided at the date of his death shall be a good discharge to the Postmaster-General for the sum

so paid unless express notice in writing that the depositor was domiciled elsewhere shall have been received by the Postmaster-General prior to such payment, and for the purposes of this Regulation the Postmaster-General may accept as conclusive proof of the place of residence of a depositor at the date of his death, such statement or information as the Postmaster-General may in his absolute discretion think fit.

Deposits not exceeding £100.

81.-(1) Where the whole amount due to a depositor at the time of his decease does not exceed £100, exclusive of interest, and Probate of the Will of such depositor is not, or Letters of Administration to his estate are not, produced within such time as the Postmaster-General thinks reasonable, if such depositor has made no nomination, or so far as any nomination does not extend, the Postmaster-General may, without requiring Probate of the Will or Letters of Adminis- tration to the estate of the deceased depositor, in his discretion pay or distribute the amount so due as aforesaid or any part thereof to or among the person or persons or any one or more of the persons (exclusively of the others) who shall in the opinion of the Postmaster-General establish a valid claim to the said amount or any part thereof under any of the following descriptions, that is to say,-

(a) A person who has paid the funeral expenses of the

depositor;

(b) A creditor of the depositor;

(c) A person appearing to the Postmaster-General to be beneficially entitled according to the Statutes of Distribution or at Common Law or under any un- proved Will, Codicil or testamentary disposition to the personal estate of the depositor or to any interest or interests therein or to any specific or general portion or portions thereof

(d) A person entitled to take out Probate or Letters of

Administration to the depositor;

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(e) A person undertaking to maintain any person who by reason of any incapacity whatsoever (including in- fancy or minority) is unable to give the Postmaster- General a legal discharge for the moneys or for a share of the moneys of a deceased depositor due under this Regulation to the person who is unable to give a legal discharge as aforesaid;

(f) In the case of foreign seamen, the Consular Authority of any country with whom a treaty has been made relative to the payment of moneys due to such

seamen ;

(g) In the case of foreign subjects, including foreign seamen in cases in which the preceding paragraph is not applicable, the Consular Authority of the country to which the depositor belongs, or such other Consular Authority as may appear to the Postmaster-General to be appropriate, on such assurance as to the ultimate disposition of the deposits as is satisfactory to the Postmaster-General,

(h) In the case of British subjects whose relatives reside outside the British Islands, such Officer or Authority as shall appear to the Postmaster-General to be suitable to dispose of the deposits in accordance with the appropriate law.

(D) The Solicitor to the Treasury if the estate of the

depositor has devolved upon the Crown;

(1) The Solicitor to the Duchy of Lancaster if the estate of the depositor has devolved upon that Duchy: (k) The Solicitor to the Duchy of Cornwall if the estate of the depositor has devolved upon that Duchy.

(2) In making such payment as aforesaid, the Postmaster- General shall have regard to the rules of law regulating the distribution of the estates of deceased persons, but he may, nevertheless, when he considers that injustice, hardship, or in- convenience would result from adherence to such rules, pay and distribute the amount due to the deceased depositor otherwise than in accordance with such rules.

(3) The receipt of any person to whom payment may be made under this Regulation or under Regulation 75 hereof shall be a good discharge to the Postmaster-General for the sum paid, and any such receipt may be signed by any such person above the age of 16 years, notwithstanding that such person has not attained the age of 21 years.

(4) In this Regulation the expression Statutes of Distribution includes any Act or Acts or Parliament relating to the distribution of the personal estates of persons dying wholly or partially intestate.

Miscellaneous.

82.-(1) Interest calculated yearly at the rate of two pounds Interest. ten shillings per centum per annum shall be allowed on every complete pound deposited.