Page 3527 - Week 12 - Thursday, 19 September 1991
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Mr Acting Speaker, in short, this Bill provides a mechanism for allowing for flexibility in individual circumstances. As such, it is an important and overdue reform, and I commend it to the Assembly. There are no financial considerations for government in this Bill, and I now present the explanatory memorandum for the Bill.
Debate (on motion by Mr Humphries) adjourned.
ADMINISTRATION AND PROBATE (AMENDMENT) BILL (NO. 2) 1991
MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General, Minister for Housing and Community Services and Minister for Urban Services) (12.20): Mr Acting Speaker, I present the Administration and Probate (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) 1991. I move:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
Mr Acting Speaker, the Administration and Probate (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) 1991 makes a minor amendment to the Administration and Probate Act 1929 to provide for ministerial determination of a rate of interest which may be payable in respect of certain legacies in a deceased's estate.
Under long-established common law principles, general legacies, including non-pecuniary legacies and certain unspent parts of demonstrative legacies, attract interest from the date on which they become payable to the date of actual payment. The payment of interest is simply a sum paid in the course of administration of a deceased's estate to prevent injustice where there is delay in payment of the legacy.
In general, the time from which the interest is payable commences one year after the death of the testator or intestate person. However, there are exceptional cases where interest is always payable from the death of the person. The timing will also depend upon the expressed intentions of the deceased person as to whether interest should accrue sooner or later. In any event, there is presently no formal guidance in the ACT as to what rate of interest is applicable in circumstances where the testator has not prescribed a rate under his or her will or where the court has not made an order on the point.
This Bill provides that in those instances the relevant rate will be that determined by the Minister administering the Administration and Probate Act. The initial rate will be 8 per cent per annum, which is consistent with the rate prescribed under a similar provision in the New South Wales legislation. Mr Acting Speaker, the Bill also provides that such a determination will be an instrument which will be capable of review by this Assembly at the appropriate time.
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