Friendly Societies Act 1974

68 Devolution of sums due where no nomination

(1) If any member of a registered society or branch entitled from the funds thereof to a sum not exceeding £500 dies without having made any nomination thereof then subsisting, the society or branch may, without letters of administration or probate of any will or, in Scotland, without any grant of confirmation, distribute the sum among such persons as appear to the committee, upon such evidence as they may deem satisfactory, to be entitled by law to receive that sum.

(2) If any such member is illegitimate, the society or branch may pay the sum of money which that member might have nominated to or among the persons who, in the opinion of the committee, would have been entitled thereto if that member had been legitimate, or if there are no such persons, the society or branch shall deal with the money as the Treasury may direct.

(3) Where at the time of his death a member of a registered friendly society or branch is entitled from the funds thereof to a sum which exceeds £500 but would not exceed that amount if any such increase as is mentioned in section 64(2)(c) above were disregarded, subsection (1) above shall apply to the whole of that sum, notwithstanding that it exceeds £500, and for the purposes of subsection (2) above the whole of that sum shall be taken to be the sum which he might have nominated.