Probate and Legacy Duties Act 1808

XXXVII Particulars to be stated in the Affidavit. Penalty for false Oath.

And be it further enacted, That upon any such Requisition as aforesaid the Executor or Executors, Administrator or Administrators, of the Deceased, or some other Person or Persons to whom the Facts shall be known, shall make a special Affidavit or Affirmation of the Facts and Circumstances of the Case, stating the Property in question, and that the Deceased had not any beneficial Interest whatever in, the same, or no other beneficial Interest therein than shall be particularly mentioned and set forth (as the Case may be), but was possessed thereof or entitled thereto, either wholly or in part (as the Case may be), in Trust for some other Person or Persons, whose Name or Names, or other sufficient Description, shall be specified in such Affidavit or Affirmation, or for such Purposes as shall be specified therein, and that the beneficial Interest of the Deceased, if any, in the Property in question doth not exceed a certain Value, to be therein also specified, according to the best Estimate that can be made thereof, if reversionary or contingent, and that the Amount or Value of the Estate for which the Stamp Duty was paid on the Probate of the Will of the Deceased, or on the Letters of Administration of his or her Effects, is sufficient to include and cover such beneficial Interest of the Deceased, as well as the rest of the Personal Estate whereof or whereto the Deceased was beneficially possessed or entitled, and for which such Probate or Letters of Administration shall have been granted, as far as the same have come to the Knowledge of such Executor or Executors, Administrator or Administrators; and where the Affidavit or Affirmation of the Facts and Circumstances of the Trusts shall be made by any other Person than the Executor or Executors, Administrator or Administrators of the Deceased, such Executor or Executors, Administrator or Administrators, shall make Affidavit or Affirmation that the same are true, to the best of his, her, or their Knowledge, and that the Property in question is intended to be applied and disposed of accordingly, which Affidavits or Affirmations shall be sworn or made before a Master in Chancery, Ordinary or Extraordinary, (who is hereby authorized to take the same, and administer the proper Oath or Affirmation for that Purpose,) and shall be delivered to the Party or Parties requiring the same, and shall be sufficient to indemnify and protect the Party or Parties acting upon the Faith thereof; and if any Person or Persons making any such Affidavit or Affirmation as aforesaid shall knowingly and wilfully make a false Oath or Affirmation of or concerning any of the Matters to be therein specified and set forth, every Person so offending, and being thereof lawfully convicted, shall be subject and liable to such Pains and Penalties as by any Law now in force Persons convicted of wilful and corrupt Perjury are subject and liable to.