Wills and probate are not my strongest subject so I would really appreciate some help with this please.
12 May 1852 a will is proved and 3 executors named.
14 January 1857 an administration application/summons is made in the Court of Chancery on behalf of a ‘pecuniary legatee’ calling the executors to attend chambers ‘to show cause if they can why an order for the administration of the personal estate should not be granted’. If they didn’t attend then order would be made in their absence ‘as the Judge may think just and expedient’…….In this case the ‘pecuniary legatee’ was the illegitimate daughter, a minor, and the matter was brought to court by her grandfather. Interestingly her mother, who was alive and living with her father, the grandfather, was also a pecuniary legatee but no action was taken for her.
And then in 1874 the case appears in a newspaper listing for the Rolls Court, Chancery Lane under ‘Petitions; unopposed’
So, if a will has been proved why would someone be able to apply to administer an estate 5 years later?...Would it mean that the estate had not been dealt with by the original executors or that a beneficiary hadn’t got their expected share and they were making some sort of claim?
Secondly the ‘petition; unopposed’, seventeen years later?...Would that be some final ‘tidying up’ of the matter in court?
I have both the will and application/summons but there is no further ‘legal’ documentation to say what actually happened after 1857 just the newspaper notice in 1874.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Many thanks in advance for any help.
Chris
12 May 1852 a will is proved and 3 executors named.
14 January 1857 an administration application/summons is made in the Court of Chancery on behalf of a ‘pecuniary legatee’ calling the executors to attend chambers ‘to show cause if they can why an order for the administration of the personal estate should not be granted’. If they didn’t attend then order would be made in their absence ‘as the Judge may think just and expedient’…….In this case the ‘pecuniary legatee’ was the illegitimate daughter, a minor, and the matter was brought to court by her grandfather. Interestingly her mother, who was alive and living with her father, the grandfather, was also a pecuniary legatee but no action was taken for her.
And then in 1874 the case appears in a newspaper listing for the Rolls Court, Chancery Lane under ‘Petitions; unopposed’
So, if a will has been proved why would someone be able to apply to administer an estate 5 years later?...Would it mean that the estate had not been dealt with by the original executors or that a beneficiary hadn’t got their expected share and they were making some sort of claim?
Secondly the ‘petition; unopposed’, seventeen years later?...Would that be some final ‘tidying up’ of the matter in court?
I have both the will and application/summons but there is no further ‘legal’ documentation to say what actually happened after 1857 just the newspaper notice in 1874.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Many thanks in advance for any help.
Chris
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