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The "Register" in Official Books.

of the persons liable to account for and pay duty in consequence of the death of the late Robert Tucker.-I am, Sir, your obedient servant, ALFRED HANSON, Controller.

"Mr George Harding."

The initial letters and figures at the top of the letter are technically known as "the Register," which means the book in which the purport of the will or administration is entered, and must be carefully copied at the heading of every receipt and account, and also at the commencement of any letter to the Board, to enable them to refer, with as little trouble as possible, to the precise entry; as, without the register, much valuable time must be wasted in searching for and finding any particular entry. We will just observe, in passing, that the initial letters have reference to the name of the deceased; the "No." to the book in which the entry is made; the year to that in which the person died, or when his will was proved; and the last group of figures to the folio or page on which the entry will be found.

By some it is supposed that no duty can be paid until the letter is received from the Board with the register. This is a mistake. The duty can be paid as soon after the will has been proved, or administration granted, as may be desired; but if it be wished to pay directly after these events, the probate or letters of administration, or an attested copy thereof, must accompany the papers; and if a copy only be sent, it must be distinctly stated thereon where proved or granted, the date thereof, and the amount under which the estate was

sworn.

We shall here insert the extracts from the Legacy Duty Acts only, as we purpose giving the Succession Duty Statute, with the tables thereto, in extenso in the Fourth Part of this book.

Reference must be made to the Legacy Duty Act in the course of the remarks we shall have occasion to make in order to explain the mode of filling up the various legacy receipts and residuary accounts, and hence the insertion of the extracts in this place will be as appropriate as in any other; besides which, it will make the reader familiar, step by step, with what he has to expect, and what to perform.

The following are the extracts :

1. No person is to pay a legacy without taking a receipt for the same, expressing the date of the receipt, the name of the testator, the name of the person to whom the receipt is given, and of the

Duties must be Paid Personally.

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person to whom the legacy is bequeathed, the amount or value of the legacy, and the amount and rate of the duty payable thereon.

2. Executors or their agents personally applying at the office in London, or to the stamp distributor in whose district they reside, will be supplied with the necessary forms of legacy receipts and residuary accounts.

3. All legacy duties must be paid personally at the office of the Receiver-General of Inland Revenue in London, and not sent by post, or to a stamp distributor in the country; and the receipt or account, on the proper printed form, filled up as required by the Act of Parliament, for the legacy or residue to which such duty belongs, must at the same time be presented to be registered and stamped.

4. The duties on legacies are to be paid at the time of paying, delivering, or otherwise discharging the legacies; but if by reason of infancy, or the absence of the legatees, or any other cause, the legacies cannot be paid, but are retained for the use of the legatees, the payment of the duties is not to be deferred till such legacies are actually paid, but the duties are to be accounted for when the legacies are so retained.

Note.-Receipts and accounts should not be transmitted by post, it being obviously impossible that they can be satisfactorily examined, unless persons attend with them competent to give such information as may be required in investigating the accounts, and to take the direction of the office on such points as need alteration. 5. A legacy payable to a legatee on his attaining the age of twentyone years, or at some future period, the interest of which is directed by the will to be applied for the benefit of such legatee until the legacy becomes payable, being a vested legacy, the duty is payable on the amount or value of such legacy immediately, and the office form for the payment of the duty is to be filled up and signed as a retainer of the legacy in trust for the use of the legatee.

6. The value of any legacy given by way of annuity for any life or lives, or for years determinable on any life or lives, or for years or other period of time, must be valued by the tables annexed to the 16 and 17 Vict., cap. 51, and the duty is to be paid on such value by equal instalments out of the first four annual payments of the annuity.

7. Any legacy or residue given to different persons in succession, liable to the same rate of duty, is to be charged with duty on the amount thereof, as in the case of a legacy to one person. And if any legacy or residue be given to different persons in succession, liable to different rates of duty, they who take for life only, or other temporary interest, are to pay as annuitants; and when any person or persons shall become entitled to the principal, or when upon the death of a tenant for life all the remaining persons in the succession shall be liable to the same rate of duty, then the duty must be paid upon the principal, as if the same had come to them immediately on the death of the testator.

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Legacy subject to a Contingency.

8. A legacy given subject to any contingency which may defeat the gift, is nevertheless to be charged with duty as an absolute bequest, and the duty is to be paid out of the capital of such legacy; and should the contingency afterwards happen, and the legacy go to one liable to a higher rate of duty, such legatee is to pay the difference. See 36 Geo. III., cap. 52., sec. 17.

9. Leasehold estates are chargeable with duty as real property under the Succession Duty Act.

10. For the payment of the duty on the residue, a statement of the deceased's personal estate, and the moneys arising from the sale or mortgage of real estate, or the value of the real estate if not sold, when the same is directed by the will or codicil to be sold or mortgaged, and of all payments made thereout, is to be rendered on the office printed residuary form, which, together with a duplicate thereof, is to be delivered (not transmitted) by the executors, or their agent, at the office in London, or to the stamp distributor in whose district the executors reside, and the duty paid on the amount or value of the clear residue within fourteen days after the assessment under a penalty of treble the value of the duty.

II. It having been determined by the Court of Exchequer, that the duty is chargeable upon the amount or value of the property as it stands with its accumulations at the time of the residuary account being delivered, and not as it stood at the time of the death of the deceased, it follows, that in rendering an account of the residue, all investments which shall have been made of any part of the deceased's personal estate, together with rents of leasehold estates, and all dividends, interests, and profits arising from the personal estate of the deceased, subsequent to the time of the deceased's death, and all accumulations thereof down to the time of the executor's delivering the account, and offering to pay the duty thereon, must be considered as part of the deceased's personal estate, and accounted for accordingly.

12. Effects, not consisting of money or securities for money, and not sold, are to be valued at the time the account is rendered, when inventories, and proper valuations thereof will be required to be produced; the stocks, shares, &c., are to valued at the medium price of the day on which the account is dated.

13. Where the residue of personal estate is given to one for life, and afterwards to others, a distinct account must be given of the rents, dividends, and interest accrued subsequent to the death of the testator, and of the payments thereout for interest of legacies, and for interest of the testator's debts, accrued after his decease, so that the balance due to the residuary legatee for life may be clearly ascertained, and the proper duty charged thereon.

14. If any legacy specially bequeathed shall be included in the account of residue by reason of the same being given to the residuary legatee; or of the person entitled to the legacy, and the residuary legatee being liable to the same rate of duty, it will be necessary, in order that such legacy may be discharged in the books

of this office, and to prevent the executors from being afterwards called upon to account for the duty on such legacy, to attach a note to the residuary statement describing the legacy, and stating the same to be included in the account.

15. In cases of insolvency, or when the shares of the residuary legatees shall not be of the value of £20 each, an account must nevertheless be rendered by the executors in the manner before directed, in order that the commissioners may satisfactorily ascertain that the estate is not chargeable with duty.

16. Executors and administrators resident in the country can deliver their legacy receipts and residuary accounts and pay the duty thereon to the stamp distributor of the county or neighbourhood in which they reside.

RATES of DUTIES payable on Legacies, Annuities, and Residues of the Amount or Value of £20 or upwards.

In filling up the legacy receipts and the declaration in the residuary account, the consanguinity or description of the legatee or annuitant must be in the following words of the Act.

Out of Real or Personal Estate.

LI O O per cent.

£300 per cent.

£5 o o per cent.

£6 o o per cent.

£10 o o per cent.

The husband or wife of the testator is not chargeable with duty; and a legatee, whose husband or wife is of nearer relationship to the testator, is chargeable with duty at the lower rate. Where a legatee shall take two or more distinct legacies or benefits under any will or testamentary instrument which shall together be of the amount or value of £20, each shall be charged with duty, though each, or either, may be separately under that amount or value.

Appraisements or valuations of any property made for the purpose

of ascertaining the legacy duty payable in respect thereof, are exempt from stamp duty.

Note. It is absolutely necessary that the time when the testator died, and when and in what court the will was proved, should be inserted in each receipt and residuary account.

PENALTIES.

Persons paying or receiving any legacy, residue, or share of residue liable to duty, without taking or signing the proper receipt for the same, will be subject to a penalty of £10 per cent. on the amount or value of such legacy, residue, or share of residue.

Every legacy receipt must be dated on the day of signing, and the duty thereon paid within twenty-one days from the date thereof, under a penalty of £10 per cent. on the amount of the duty; and if the duty shall not be paid within three months from the date of the receipt, a penalty will then be incurred of £10 per cent. on the amount or value of the legacy.

The Commissioners of Inland Revenue cannot under any circumstances stamp a receipt on which the duty shall not be paid within twenty-one days from the date, unless the penalty incurred be also paid.

CHAPTER XV.

AS TO THE PAYMENT OF DEBTS, AND THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY MUST BE DISCHARGED ACCORDING TO THEIR SEVERAL DEGREES.

BEFORE an executor pay any legacies, it is his duty to correctly ascertain the extent of debts and liabilities, as these must be discharged before any legacies are paid, and if there be the remotest chance of a deficiency of assets, so that all debts cannot be paid in full, the executor must exercise care even in the payment of claims, as these are of various degrees,—some of a higher, and others of a lower degree. Those of a higher order must be paid in full before anything is paid even in part discharge of debts of an inferior kind; and a departure from the legal order of precedence will involve the executor in personal responsibility.

Debts, then, should be paid in the following order :— 1. The funeral expenses reasonably incurred.

2. The costs of proving the will, solicitors' charges, and other expenses incident to the winding up of the estate.