Succession Act 1981

Where any person, not being a person to whom a grant is made, obtains, receives or holds the estate or any part of the estate of a deceased person otherwise than for full and valuable consideration, or effects the release of any debt or liability due to the estate of the deceased, the person shall be charged as executor in the person’s own wrong to the extent of the estate received or coming into the person’s hands, or the debt or liability released, after deducting any payment made by the person which might properly be made by a personal representative to whom a grant is made.

An executor who has intermeddled in the administration of the estate before applying for a grant of probate may renounce his or her executorship notwithstanding his or her intermeddling.

A personal representative may ratify and adopt any act done on behalf of the estate by another if the act was one which the personal representative might properly have done himself or herself.