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the local authority and an appeal taken to the Minister
a further period of time must necessarily elapse before
a decision is finally obtained, particularly in cases where
objections to the proposed plan may have been lodged
by adjoining owners or occupiers.
In such
cases
it
would presumably be necessary for the Department of
Local Government, not only to inspect the plans or the
site but also
to communicate with and consider
the
submission of objectors. In the view of the Council it
would be impossible for a purchaser to have his deed
of transfer registered in the Land Registry during all
this period because the consent of the Land Commission
would not become operative until
the planning per
mission was obtained and indeed would not be operative
at all if the application for planning permission proved
to be unsuccessful.
The application for subdivision is made by the vendor.
He is not concerned with, nor has he any knowledge of
the use which the purchaser proposes to make of the
property when sold. It is unreasonable that an applic
ation by a vendor for consent to subdivision should be
affected by or conditional upon something which may
or may not arise after he has sold the property. Surely
the question of planning permission is a matter for the
purchaser. Both he and his
legal advisors must be
assumed to know the law relating to development and
planning.
The Council would be obliged if you would give this
matter your favourable consideration as we are receiving
a number of letters from members.
Yours sincerely,
ERIC A. PLUNKETT,
Secretary.
NEW COSTS AT THE PROBATE OFFICE
IRISH FARMERS' JOURNAL DECEMBER 12th
When the owner of a farm dies it is advisable to take
out a grant of representation. This
term covers
the
situation whether there is a will made or no will made.
It can be safely presumed that when the new Suc
cession Act becomes law in about a month there will
be a lot of publicity about succession and people will
be asking themselves questions about
this business ot
taking out grants of representation.
The biggest question that will have to be answered
is: What
is
it going to cost? This year, costs were
increased and a new scale of fees, payable in the Probate
Office and District Probate Registries, has been pub
lished. The scale of fees is related to the net value of
the estate. This means to the final value of both iand
and personal valuables.
If the net estate does not exceed:
100
200
300
450
600
800
1.000
1,500
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
10,000
2 10
0
3 10
0
4 10
0
600
7 10
0
9 10
0
11 10
0
12 10
0
13 10
0
15 10
0
17 10
0
19 10
0
20 10
0
21 10
0
22 10
0
23 10
0
24 10
0
15,000
....................................
20,000
....................................
Where the net estate exceeds the value
of £20,000 on the first £20,000 a
fee of
On every £1,000 or fraction thereof by
which the value exceeds £2,000 an
but does not exceed £100,000, an
additional fee of
27
0
0
29 10
0
29 10
0
15
0
0
These
fees are simply what you would pay
to
the
Probate Office. They do not include what you would
pay to your family solicitor.
However, from January 1,
the new Succession Act
becomes law,
there will be new emphasis on personal
application
to
the Probate Office. In effect,
the Act
provides added incentive for people to handle their own
business in this regard by going direct to the Probate
Office
in Dublin or
to one of
the District Probate
Registries, providing all the information that is required
and
leaving it
to
the officers
there
to prepare
the
necessary documents for them.
Where
the grant is sought by personal application
there
is
in addition
to any other fee, a charge as
follows: Where the net estate does not exceed the value
of:—
250
500
750
1,000
1,500
2,000
200
300
400
500
650
7 10
0
Where the net estate exceeds the value
of £2,000 but does not exceed the
value £10,000 on the first £2,000 a
fee of
....................................
7 10
0
On every £1,000 or fraction thereof by
which the value exceeds £2,000 an
additional fee of ........................
1
10
0
Where
the
net
estate
exceeds
the
value of £10,000 ........................A fee equal
in
amount
to
the
fee
listed in the
first table of
charges.
In 95 per cent of cases the cost ends there, but, the
other 5 per cent may, because of complications, have
to go
to Court, and this must be kept
in mind as
another expense for the unfortunate few.
The Society
replied
to
the Editor of
the
Farmers' Journal
as follows : —
Dear Sir,
The article
in your issue of December 12th under
the title "New Costs at the Probate Office" may be
misleading, without clarification. The figures given as
to
the
fees payable at
the Probate Office,
i.e.,
fees
collected by the Government (not solicitors' costs) are
correct. It is of interest to compare the fees payable in
1965 with the new fees imposed in 1966. The 1965 fees
on a
farm of £5,000 were £9-10-0. These were
in
creased
to £19-10-0 by
the 1966 Order and in ad
dition if the applicant applies in person for the grant
there is a further fee of £12 making a total of £31-10-0.
Your contributor, however has not mentioned the fact
that death duty is also payable, and before the grant
of probate or administration can be issued the schedule
of assets must be passed at the Estate Duty Office and
96