The Savings Certificates Regulations 1991

Payment without a grant of representation

15.—(1) Where, on the death of any person, being the sole holder ofcertificates, the amount repayable in respect of which does not, at thetime of his death, exceed in the aggregate £5,000, probate ofhis will or letters of administration to his estate is not or are notproduced to the Director of Savings within such time as he thinksreasonable in the circumstances of the case, the Director of Savings, ifhe thinks fit, may, without requiring probate or letters ofadministration, pay the amount repayable in respect of thosecertificates, or any part of that amount—

(a) to a person appearing to the Director of Savings to be entitledto take out probate of the will of the deceased or letters ofadministration to his estate;

(b) where the deceased has left a will (being a will with respect towhich the Director of Savings is satisfied that probate or letters ofadministration with the will annexed would be granted), to any person towhom the amount repayable or any part thereof would, in the opinion ofthe Director of Savings, be payable under such will, if probate thereofor letters of administration with the will annexed were granted;

(c) to any person who satisfies the Director of Savings that he isentitled to receive the amount repayable or any part thereof in right ofhis 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 citizen and his next of kin appearsto the Director of Savings to reside outside the United Kingdom, theIsle of Man and the Channel Islands, to any officer or authority who, inthe opinion of the Director of Savings, may properly be entrusted withthe duty of distributing the amount repayable;

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

(f) if the deceased was a foreign subject, not being a seaman towhom the provisions of the last preceding sub-paragraph apply, to theconsular authority of the country to which the deceased belonged, or tosuch other authority as appears to the Director of Savings to beappropriate, subject in either case to the Director of Savings beingsatisfied that the amount repayable will be duly distributed;

(g) in a case where the estate of the deceased appears to the Directorof Savings to have devolved upon the Crown, the Duchy of Lancaster orthe Duchy of Cornwall, to the Treasury Solicitor, the Solicitor for theAffairs of the Duchy of Lancaster or the Solicitor for the Affairs ofthe Duchy of Cornwall, as the case requires:

• Provided that, where a person to whom any sum may be paid undersub-paragraph (b) or (c) of this paragraph has died before payment hasbeen made to him, that sum or any part thereof may be paid to any personto whom it might have been paid if the first mentioned person had,immediately before his death, been the sole holder of the certificatesin question.

(2) Notwithstanding any rule of law to the contrary, any person to whoma payment may be made under sub-paragraph (b) or (c) of paragraph (1) ofthis regulation or under the proviso to that paragraph may sign areceipt therefor if he has attained the age of sixteen years, and thereceipt shall be a valid receipt without the signature of any otherperson, 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 adischarge therefor under these Regulations, the Director of Savings maymake the payment to any person who satisfies him that he will apply itfor the maintenance or otherwise for the benefit of the first mentionedperson.

(3) Subject to the provisions of the last preceding paragraph, theDirector of Savings, in making any payment under sub-paragraph (b) or(c) of paragraph (1) of this regulation or under the proviso to thatparagraph, shall, unless he is of the opinion that hardship orinconvenience would be thereby caused, have regard to the rules of lawrelating to the distribution of the estates of deceased persons, but, ifhe is of that opinion, may depart from those rules in such manner and tosuch extent as he considers just.

(4) In this regulation the expression“will” includes a codicil.