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Administration of Estates

Volume 505: debated on Wednesday 3 February 2010

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent representations he has received on the consultation carried out by his Department's predecessor “Administration of estates. Review of the Statutory Legacy”. (314406)

We received 33 responses to the consultation: “Administration of Estates - Review of the Statutory Legacy” (CP 11/05). We published the post-consultation report in August 2008 (CP(R) 11/05). As a result of the consultation, we increased the statutory legacy from £125,000 to £250,000 where the deceased leaves a surviving spouse or civil partner and children and from £200,000 to £450,000 where the deceased leaves a surviving spouse or civil partner and parents or siblings, but no children. These changes were implemented on 1 February 2009.

The consultation paper also sought views on whether there should be a review of the general law of intestacy. Following the response, this topic was referred to the Law Commission, which published a consultation paper: Intestacy and Family Provision Claims on Death (Law Com CP No. 191) in October 2009. The Commission expects to report in 2011.

Since the publication of the response, I have not received any representations that specifically relate to the consultation paper.