Order 60 — Grant of Letters of Administration (without Will)

Grant of Letters of Administration (without Will) may be applied for and issued where a deceased person died without a Will (total intestacy) and so did not appoint executors or where some part of his estate is not covered by the Will and there is no residuary clause (partial intestacy) or where the Will is declared invalid.

(1) A Court shall require evidence, in addition to that offered by the applicant, where additional evidence in that regard seems to the Court necessary or desirable, to ascertain:

(a) the identity of the deceased or of the applicant; or

(b) the relationship of the applicant to the deceased; or

(c) any person or persons in existence with a right equal or prior to that of the applicant to the grant of probate or administration sought by the applicant; or

(d) any other matter which may be applicants is the proper person to whom the grant should be made.

(2) The Court may refuse the grant unless the applicant produces any of the requirements in paragraphs (a)-(c) or as may be required by the Court.

(1) Where it appears to a Court that some person(s) other than the applicant may have at least an equal right with the applicant to the grant sought, the Court may refuse the grant until due notice of the application has been given to such other person(s) and an opportunity given for such person(s) to be heard on the applicant’s prior right.

(2) Such other persons ordinarily equally eligible to be granted letters of administration by virtue of their kingship to the deceased may indicate their acquiescence by writing a letter of their consent to the Registrar, accompanied with a verifiable means of identification, and a clause in the letter shall contain an indemnity in favour of the Registrar against liability for acting on such expression of consent.

(1) In no circumstance shall a Court issue letters of administration until all inquiries which the Court deems fit to make have been answered to its satisfaction.

(2) A Court shall, however, afford reasonable facility for obtaining of letters of administration as is consistent with due regard to the prevention of error and fraud.

(1) A person seeking for Letters of Administration shall give a bond, with at least two sureties, to the Registrar of the Court, as a condition for duly collecting, getting in and administering the personal property of the deceased, and such sureties shall be suitable persons to the satisfaction of the Registrar.

(2) A Court may, if it deems fit, take one surety only.

(3) The bond shall be in penalty of double the amount under which the personal estate of the deceased is sworn, unless the Court in any case deems it expedient to reduce the amount.

(4) The Court may also in any case direct that more bonds than one shall be given, so as to limit the liability of a surety to such amount as the Court deems reasonable.

(1) Where a person dies, the person(s) entitled to a grant of administration without a Will annexed shall be determined in the following order of priority

(a) The spouse;

(b) The child/children of the deceased;

(c) The parent(s)

(d) The brother(s) and sister(s) of the deceased;

(i) who are of the same parents with the deceased

(ii) who are not of the same parents but are of the same father or of the same mother with the deceased

in that order

(e) The person(s) listed as next-of-kin;

(f) Any other close relative(s) in the absence of the persons listed in sub-rule 1 (a) – (e) of this Rule.

(2) However, in all cases, letters of administration shall be granted to, at least, two persons as grantees but where the circumstances warrant for a grant to be made to a single grantee, the applicant shall make a formal application to the Registrar, showing good reasons, for his approval to be a sole grantee for the letters of administration.

(3) To assist the Registrar in determining the appropriate grantee, in the cases of deceased persons in some formal employment, the Registrar may require a letter of confirmation of the next of kin in the employer’s official records is someone other than the immediate or nuclear family of the deceased, the Registrar may take into account any time interval between when the record was made and the time of death as to suggest that change of circumstances could have affected the intention of the deceased.

(1) Where the applicant for the grant, resealing or re-issue of letters of administration has completed and complied with such requirements as may be imposed by the Registrar, the Registrar shall cause a publication or advertisement of the application to be made in one newspaper widely circulating in Nigeria, stating the pendency of the application for grant, resealing or re-issue of letters of administration in respect of the estate of the named deceased in favour of named applicants, and calling for any objection thereto, if any, to be made to the Registrar within 21 days of the date of publication.

(2) Where an objection is entered in response to publication above, the Registrar shall immediately cease to act on the application and communicate this fact to the applicants and fix a date for hearing both the applicant and the objector and if the Registrar considers that the objection raises substantial issues sufficient to uphold it and his mediation did not bring agreement between the objector and applicant, he shall refer the parties to the court for adjudication.

(3) An objection may be lifted if the objector withdraws it or the objector and the applicant for grant comes to an agreement, or after reasonable time, not being less than 14 days inclusive of the day of service, the objector failed to answer a summons by the Registrar to enable him justify the entering of the objection.

The grant of letters of administration under this Order shall be signed by the Chief Judge or a Judge designated by him.

Where there has been a grant of letters of administration and it subsequently comes to the notice of the Registrar that a prior letters of administration or probate had been granted in respect of the estate of the same deceased, but at the time of applying for the subsequent grant, the grantees, whether advertently or inadvertently, omitted to disclose the existence of the prior letters of administration, the Registrar shall revoke the letters of administration or probate that is later in time.