The Gazette 1989

GAZETTE

DECEMBER 1989

Subsection (4): Where a Will is made on or after the 14/6/1988 and a child is adopted after the date of the Will, he is now included in the bequest; hitherto children adopted after date of Will were excluded e.g. where a gift is given " t o children of ny son X", and Z is adopted after the Will was made (after 14/6/'88), Z now is entitled to share with other children of son X whereas before he would have been excluded. Subsection (7): A will (or other disposition) made before the 14th of June 1988 shall not be brought under the Ac t 's operation just because the Will was confirmed by a Codicil executed after the 14th of June 1988. Section 28 (applies to both Wills and Intestacies). Section 28 states that the word 'issue' shall now be con- strued in accordance with the new S. 4A of the 1965 Act as inserted by S. 29 of the 1987 Act. The word 'issue' now includes non marital children, therefore O'B -v- S, supra, is overruled. Section 29 amends Section 4 of the Succession Act 1965 by inserting a new Section 4A (1) which states effectively that all relationships shall be deduced for the purposes of the 1965 Act irrespective of the marital status of a person's parents. With the abolition of the status of illegiti- macy non marital children have equal succession rights w i th INTESTATE SUCCESSION - SECTION 29

with the same words will be construed as referring to both non- marital and marital children. N.B Testators may still exclude non-marital children by specifically stating the bequest is to pass to his legitimate issue only. It was not considered proper that the date of operation of the Act for Wills should be the date of death of the testator as testators draft Wills in the light of rules of construction that exist at the time of the execution. The Act reverses the rule of construction to include non-marital children wherever a gift to a child or children is given unless the contrary intention appears. It was suggested that to attempt to make the date of death the operative date would be contrary to Article 43 of the Constitution. Subsection (2) states that certain provisions of Section 3 of The Legitimacy Act 1931 (which con- ferred on legitimated children from the date of their legitimation the same rights as legitimate children) shall not apply in respect of dispositions made after the 14th of June 1988. However, it goes on to state that these Legitimacy Act provisions do still apply to protect legitimated children's rights where the dispos- ition refers only to persons who are, or whose relationship is deduced, through legitimate persons ag. " - to my legitimate child." Subsection (3) confers rights of children adopted in Ireland pursuant to Section 26 of The Adoption Act 1952 on children adopted abroad whose adopt- ions are recognised under Irish Law.

marital children to the estates of all their blood relations and vice versa. Section 29 inserts a new Section 4A (2) which sets up a rebuttable presumption that a child whose parents have not married each other and who dies intestate is not survived by his father or by any person related to him through his father. SECTION 30 inserts after Section 27 of the Succession Act a new Section 27A which sets up a rebuttable presumption for the purposes of determining who is entitled to take out Probate or Letters of Administrtion that a deceased person was not survived by any relative whose parents have not married each other or who is related to him through such a person. * Section 4A (2) of the 1965 Act, as inserted by Section 29 of the 1987 Act, deals specifically with the father of a non marital child, where the said child died intestate, and presumes the father and all those claiming t h r ough him to have pre- deceased the child. * Section 30 of the 1987 Act is a far more general presumption covering entitlements to Grants of Probate and Administration, presuming that where a non marital child relationship affects the title to a Grant all those persons who would be entitled to apply for a Grant on the basis of that non marital relationship shall be presumed to have predeceased the deceased. Question: How has the 1987 Act a f f ec t ed Proba te Law and practice in relation to (i) Wills, (ii) Deaths Intestate?

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