The Savings Contracts Regulations 1969

Payment without a grant of representation

10.—(1) Where, on the death of any person, being a contributor in respect of any savings contracts the amount repayable in respect of which does not, at the time of his death, exceed in the aggregate £500, probate of his will or letters of administration to his estate is not or are not produced to the authority within such time as they think reasonable in the circumstances of the case, the authority, if they think fit, may, without requiring probate or letters of administration, pay the amount repayable in respect of the savings contracts, or any part of that amount—

(a) to a person appearing to the authority to be entitled to take out probate of the will of the deceased or letters of administration to his estate;

(b) where the deceased has left a will (being a will with respect to which the authority are satisfied that probate or letters of administration with the will annexed would be granted), to any person to whom the amount repayable or any part thereof would, in the opinion of the authority, be payable under such will, if probate thereof or letters of administration with the will annexed were granted;

(c) to any person who satisfies the authority that he is entitled to receive the amount repayable or any part thereof in right of his being—

(i) a person who has paid the funeral expenses of the deceased; or

(ii) a creditor of the deceased; or

(iii) a person who has a beneficial interest in the estate of the deceased;

(d) if the deceased was a British subject and his next of kin appears to the authority to reside outside the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, to any officer or authority who, in the opinion of the authority, may properly be entrusted with the duty of distributing the amount repayable;

(e) if the deceased was a seaman of a foreign country, being a country with which a treaty has been made in respect of the payment of moneys due to seamen, to the consular authority of that country;

(f) if the deceased was a foreign subject, not being a seaman to whom the provisions of the last preceding sub-paragraph apply, to the consular authority of the country to which the deceased belonged, or to such other authority as appears to the authority to be appropriate, subject in either case to the authority being satisfied that the amount repayable will be duly distributed;

(g) in the case where the estate of the deceased appears to the authority to have devolved upon the Crown, the Duchy of Lancaster or the Duchy of Cornwall, to the Treasury Solicitor, the Solicitor for the affairs of the Duchy of Lancaster or the Solicitor for the affairs of the Duchy of Cornwall, as the case requires:

Provided that where a person to whom any sum may be paid under sub-paragraph (b) or sub-paragraph (c) of this paragraph has died before payment has been made to him, that sum or any part thereof may be paid to any person to whom it might have been paid if the first-mentioned person had, immediately before his death, been the contributor in respect of the savings contracts in question.

(2) Notwithstanding any rule of law to the contrary, any person to whom a payment may be made under sub-paragraph (b) or sub-paragraph (c) of paragraph (1) of this Regulation or under the proviso to that paragraph may sign a receipt therefor if he has attained the age of 16 years, and the receipt shall be a valid receipt without the signature of any other person, and where any person to whom a payment may be so made is unable, by reason of his age or for any other reason whatsoever, to give a discharge therefor under these Regulations, the authority may make the payment to any person who satisfies them that he will apply it for the maintenance or otherwise for the benefit of the first-mentioned person.

(3) In this Regulation the expression “will” includes a codicil.