Probate and Administration (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 48/1998

Read the first time on 23rd November 1998.

An Act to amend the Probate and Administration Act (Chapter 251 of the 1985 Revised Edition) and certain other written laws.

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows:

Short title and commencement

1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Probate and Administration (Amendment) Act 1998 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

(2) The Minister may appoint different dates for the coming into operation of the different provisions of this Act.

Amendment of section 45

2. Section 45 of the Probate and Administration Act (referred to in this Act as the principal Act) is amended by deleting the words “any part of the Commonwealth” in the definitions of “probate” and “letters of administration” and substituting in each case the words “any country or territory”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 46

3. Section 46 of the principal Act is repealed and the following section substituted therefor:

“Power of court to re-seal

46.—(1) Subject to subsections (3) and (4), where —

(a)

a court of probate in any part of the Commonwealth has, either before, on or after the date of commencement of the Probate and Administration (Amendment) Act 1998, granted probate or letters of administration in respect of the estate of a deceased person; or

(b)

a court of probate in a country or territory, being a country or territory declared by the Minister under subsection (5) as a country or territory to which this subsection applies, has, on or after a date specified by the Minister in respect of that country or territory (referred to in this section as the relevant date), granted probate or letters of administration in respect of the estate of a deceased person,

the probate or letters of administration so granted, or a certified copy thereof, sealed with the seal of the court granting the same, may, on being produced to and a copy thereof deposited in the High Court, be sealed with the seal of the Supreme Court.

(2) Upon sealing under subsection (1), the probate or letters of administration shall be of the like force and effect, and have the same operation in Singapore, as if granted by the High Court to the person by whom or on whose behalf the application for sealing was made.

(3) Before the probate or letters of administration is sealed with the seal of the Supreme Court, the High Court may require such evidence as it thinks fit as to the domicile of the deceased person.

(4) If it appears that the deceased was not, at the time of his death, domiciled within the jurisdiction of the court from which the grant issued, the seal shall not be affixed unless the grant is such as the High Court would have made.

(5) For the purposes of subsection (1)(b), the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette —

(a)	declare any country or territory, which is not a part of the Commonwealth, as a country or territory to which subsection (1) applies; and
(b)	specify the relevant date in respect of that country or territory which may be a date before, on or after the date of commencement of the Probate and Administration (Amendment) Act 1998.”.

Repeal of section 47

4. Section 47 of the principal Act is repealed.

Amendment of Reciprocal Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act

5. The Reciprocal Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act (Cap. 265) is amended —

(a)

by inserting, immediately after the definition of “appeal” in section 2(1), the following definition:

“ “country” includes a territory;”;

(b)

by inserting, immediately after the definition of “country of the original court” in section 2(1), the following definition:

“ “foreign country” means any country outside Singapore which is not part of the Commonwealth;”;

(c)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (4) of section 3, the following subsection:

“(5) An order directing that this Part shall extend to a foreign country may provide that the order shall come into operation on a date before, on or after the date of commencement of the Probate and Administration (Amendment) Act 1998.”; and

(d)

by renumbering section 7 as subsection (1) of that section, and by inserting immediately thereafter the following subsections:

“(2) Where the date of coming into operation of the relevant order is before the date it is published in the Gazette, subsection (1) shall apply only to proceedings commenced in any court in Singapore on or after the date the relevant order is published in the Gazette.

(3) In subsection (2), “relevant order” means the order made under section 3 by virtue of which the foreign judgment is a judgment to which this Part applies.”.

Amendment of Regulation of Imports and Exports Act

6. Section 31 of the Regulation of Imports and Exports Act (Cap. 272A) is amended by inserting, immediately after subsection (4), the following subsection:

“(5) In this section, “foreign country” means any country or territory outside Singapore.”.

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