Protection of legal representative in other circumstances
94 Protection of legal representative in other circumstances
A legal representative of the estate of a deceased person who distributes property in the estate for the purpose of providing those things immediately necessary for the maintenance or education of an eligible person who was wholly or substantially dependent on the deceased person immediately before his or her death is not liable for any such distribution that is properly made.
Subsection (1) applies whether or not the legal representative had notice at the time of the distribution of any application or intended application for a family provision order affecting property in the estate.
No person who may have made or may be entitled to make an application under this Chapter is entitled to bring an action against the legal representative of the estate of a deceased person because the legal representative has distributed any part of the estate if the distribution was properly made by the legal representative after the person (being of full legal capacity) has notified the legal representative in writing that the person either—
consents to the distribution, or
does not intend to make any application under this Chapter that would affect the proposed distribution.
A legal representative of the estate of a deceased person who receives notice of an intended application under this Chapter is not liable in respect of a distribution of any part of the estate if the distribution was made in compliance with section 93 (1) by the legal representative not earlier than 12 months after the deceased person’s death.
Subsection (4) does not apply if the legal representative receives written notice that the application has been commenced in the Court or is served with a copy of the application before making the distribution.
For the purposes of this section, notice to the legal representative of an application or intention to make any application under this Chapter must be in writing signed in accordance with rules for the signing of documents by a party in proceedings under the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005.
Note—
On the enactment of this subsection, rules for the signing of documents by a party in proceedings were contained in Rule 4.4 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005.
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