20Abolition of escheat

20 Abolition of escheat (1) In respect of the property of a person dying intestate on or after 8 February 1971: (a) escheat is abolished; and (b) all the property, whether real or personal, is, subject to this section and the Administration and Probate Act 1969, to be distributed in the manner and to the person or persons provided by that Act. (2) Subject to the Corporations Act 2001, the property of a corporation that is dissolved after the commencement of this Act is not to escheat, but the Crown is entitled to take as bona vacantia all the property, whether real or personal, that would, but for this Act, be liable to escheat or pass to the Crown as bona vacantia. (3) Despite this section, if the Crown, or it appears to the Minister that the Crown, has a right to any property by escheat or devolution or as bona vacantia on the death intestate of a person (whether the death occurred before or after the commencement of this Act), the Minister, on application being made for the waiver of that right, may, if he or she considers it reasonable to do so, by notice in the Gazette waive that right on the terms he or she thinks appropriate (which may include the payment of money) in favour of any of the following persons, whether belonging to the same or a different class: (a) dependants, whether kindred or not, of the intestate; (b) persons for whom the intestate might reasonably have been expected to make provision; (c) persons to whom the Crown would, if the Crown's title had been proved by inquisition, have the power to grant the property; Law of Property Act 2000 11 (d) any other persons having, in the opinion of the Minister, a just claim to the grant of the property; (e) trustees of persons referred to in paragraphs (a) to (d) inclusive. (4) Subject to subsection (8), on a right of the Crown being waived under subsection (3), the right vests in the person or persons in favour of whom the waiver is made. (5) For the purpose of giving effect to a waiver under subsection (3) the Minister may, by notice in the Gazette: (a) appoint a person the Minister considers suitable to be administrator of the property of the person who has died intestate (the deceased); (b) appoint a person to execute a conveyance or other document for the purpose of conveying, under the terms of the waiver, the property the subject of the waiver to the person or persons in whose favour the waiver is made; or (c) specify the terms of the waiver and give the directions that the Minister considers necessary or desirable to give effect to the waiver (which terms and directions are to be complied with). (6) The person appointed under subsection (5)(a) to be administrator may apply to the Court for a grant of letters of administration of the property of the deceased, and the letters of administration may be granted accordingly. (7) For the purposes of the grant of the letters of administration and the administration under the grant, the property in respect of which the right of the Crown has been waived is to be taken to form part of the estate of the deceased to be administered under the terms of the waiver for the benefit of the person or persons in favour of whom the waiver is made. (8) A waiver under subsection (3) is to have the effect of a grant of the land or other property that is the subject of the waiver to the administrator appointed under this section or, if no administrator is appointed, to the person or persons in favour of whom the waiver is made. (9) This section is subject to Schedule 1 and all proceedings that may be brought under that Schedule. (10) Despite this section and the Crown's right, because of the death intestate of a person before the commencement of this Act, to any property of the person by escheat or devolution or as bona Law of Property Act 2000 12 vacantia, the Public Trustee has and is to be taken to always have had (in addition to the powers of the Public Trustee under section 67A of the Public Trustee Act 1979) the same power: (a) to obtain from the Court or otherwise under the Administration and Probate Act 1969 authority to administer the estate of the person; and (b) to deal in due course of administration with the estate of the person, as the Public Trustee has in a case where the Crown has no right by escheat or devolution or as bona vacantia. (11) In this section, intestate has the same meaning as in Division 4 of Part III of the Administration and Probate Act 1969.