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[Collected Rules and Regulations of the Native Land Court, in English and Māori]

Probate and Administration

Probate and Administration.

27.Application to the Court for grant of probate or administration with will annexed may be made in Form No. 16. The applicant must at the time of lodging such application deposit with the Registrar the will in respect of which such application is made.
28.Notice of such application, and of the intention to hold an inquiry under section 46 of the Act, and of the time and place of such inquiry, shall, as soon as may be there after, be published in the Gazette and Kahiti, the time fixed for such inquiry to be not less than one month from the date of the publication of such notice. The inquiry shall be held in open Court, with the assistance of an Assessor.
29.On the holding of such inquiry, the Court shall proceed to deal with such application, and with all objections thereto; and if it shall appear to the Court that the will produced is duly executed, and is the last will of the deceased, and that probate of the whole or of any portion of the estate ought to be granted, and if in the opinion of the Court the applicant is a fit and proper person to obtain the same, the Court shall grant probate or limited probate accordingly.
30.If the Court shall find that probate ought to be granted as aforesaid, but that the applicant is not a fit person, or is not the proper person, to obtain the same, the Court may dismiss such application, and may in its discretion, either at the same sitting or at any subsequent sitting, grant probate or limited probate to any fit person on application, either with or without further notice, as the Court in the exercise of its discretion may direct.
31.If there be no will, or if probate thereof be not applied for within one month from the death of the testator, application for grant of letters of administration may be made in Form No. 17 by any person claiming to be entitled thereto.
32.On the hearing of such application the Court may grant letters of administration to such applicant, or may in its discretion grant the same to any fit person on application, either with or without further notice, as the Court in the exercise of its discretion may direct.
33.Every person making application for grant of probate or administration shall be required to file a declaration by some person having knowledge of the facts deposed to, in the form or to the effect set forth in Form No. 18page 6
34.No probate or letters of administration shall be sealed until after the expiration of the time (thirty days) within which notice of appeal against the granting thereof may be lodged, or, if such notice has been lodged, until such appeal has been finally disposed of.
35.Every will or alleged will in respect whereof the Court shall have refused to grant probate shall remain in the custody of the Registrar.
36.Every person other than the Public Trustee to whom probate or letters of administration shall be granted shall before obtaining the same give security in Form No. 19 for the proper administration of the estate of the deceased.
37.If any Native deceased shall have left property of a perishable nature, or which it is desirable in the interests of the estate should be at once realised, a Judge may, upon application by any person appearing to be interested therein, make an order authorising the sale of such property by some person in such order to be named, and may direct the proceeds to be paid to the Public Trustee on account of the estate of the deceased. Or the Judge may authorise any person to take charge of the property of the deceased pending the appointment of an administrator.
38.Every executor of administrator shall, within such respective periods as the Judge on granting probate or administration shall direct, or within such further periods as a Judge on application may thereafter direct, file in the office of the Registrar an inventory of the estate and effects of the deceased, and also a full and distinct account in writing of his administration of the estate, which shall set forth the dates and particulars of all receipts and disbursements. Every inventory and account so filed shall be verified by declaration.
39.Grant of probate and of letters of administration, or of letters of administration with will annexed, shall be in the Forms Nos. 20, 21, and 22 respectively.
40.Every probate or administration granted by the Court shall, immediately on being sealed, be forwarded by the Registrar to the Deputy Commissioner of Stamps for the district for assessment of duty thereon, and shall not be delivered to the person entitled until such duty has been paid and satisfied.