Succession Act , 1965

PART I Preliminary and General

1. Short title.

1.—This Act may be cited as the Succession Act, 1965.

2. Commencement.

2.—This Act shall come into operation on such day, not earlier than the 1st day of July, 1966, as the Minister by order appoints.

3. Interpretation.

3.—(1)In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires—

F1["Act of 2015" means the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015;]

“administration”, in relation to the estate of a deceased person, means letters of administration, whether with or without a will annexed, and whether granted for special or limited purposes;

“administrator” means a person to whom administration is granted;

F2["civil partner" has the meaning assigned to it by the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010;]

“conveyance” includes a mortgage, charge, lease, assent, transfer, disclaimer, release and every other assurance of property by any instrument except a will;

“the court” shall be construed in accordance with section 6;

“estate” shall be construed in accordance with section 14;

“grant” means grant of representation;

“infant” means a person under the age of twenty-one years;

“an intestate” means a person who leaves no will or leaves a will but leaves undisposed of some beneficial interest in his estate, and “intestate” shall be construed accordingly;

F3["issue" shall be construed in accordance with section 4A (inserted by the Status of Children Act, 1987);]

F4["legal right" means—

(a) the right of a spouse under section 111 to a share in the estate of a deceased person, and

(b) the right of a civil partner under section 111A to a share in the estate of a deceased person;]

“the Minister” means the Minister for Justice;

"pecuniary legacy" includes an annuity, a general legacy, a demonstrative legacy so far as it is not discharged out of the designated property, and any other general direction by a testator for the payment of money, including all death duties free from which any devise, bequest, or payment is made to take effect;

“per stirpes” shall be construed in accordance with subsection (3);

“personal representative” means the executor or the administrator for the time being of a deceased person;

“possession” includes the receipt of, or the right to receive, rents and profits, if any;

“probate” means probate of a will;

“property” includes all property both real and personal;

“purchaser” means a grantee, lessee, assignee, mortgagee, chargeant or other person who F5[…] acquires an estate or interest in property for valuable consideration;

“real estate” has the meaning assigned to it by section 4;

“representation” means probate or administration;

“share”, in relation to the estate of a deceased person, includes any share or interest, whether arising under a will, on intestacy or as a legal right, and includes also the right to the whole estate;

“trust corporation” has the meaning assigned to it by subsection (4) of section 30;

“valuable consideration” means consideration in money or money's worth;

“will” includes codicil.

F3[(1A)In this Act a reference, however expressed, to a person whose parents have married or have not married each other shall be construed in accordance withsection 4of the Status of Children Act, 1987.]

(2)Descendants and relatives of a deceased person begotten before his death but born alive thereafter shall, for the purposes of this Act, be regarded as having been born in the lifetime of the deceased and as having survived him.

(3)Where a deceased person's estate or any share therein is to be distributed per stirpes among his issue, any issue more remote than a child of the deceased shall take through all degrees, according to their stocks, in equal shares if more than one, the share which the parent of such issue would have taken if living at the death of the deceased, and no issue of the deceased shall take if the parent of such issue is living at the death of the deceased and so capable of taking.

(4)In this Act, a reference to any enactment is to that enactment as amended or extended by any other enactment, including this Act.

(5)In this Act, a reference to a Part, section, or Schedule is to a Part, section, or Schedule of this Act, unless it is indicated that a reference to some other enactment is intended.

4. Meaning of “real estate” and “estate or interest”. [1959 (No. 8) ss. 2, 6]

4.—For the purposes of this Act—

(a)“real estate” includes chattels real, and land in possession, remainder, or reversion, and every estate or interest in or over land (including real estate held by way of mortgage or security, but not including money to arise under a trust for sale of land, or money secured or charged on land);

(b)the estate or interest of a deceased person in an estate tail shall be deemed to be an estate or interest ceasing on his death, but any further or other estate or interest of the deceased person in remainder or reversion which is capable of being disposed of by his will shall not be deemed to be an estate or interest so ceasing;

(c)the estate or interest of a deceased person under a joint tenancy where any tenant survives the deceased person shall be deemed to be an estate or interest ceasing on his death;

(d)on the death of a corporator sole his estate or interest in the corporation's real estate shall be deemed to be an estate or interest ceasing on his death;

(e)the estate or interest of a deceased person in real estate shall not be deemed to be an estate or interest ceasing on his death merely because by reason of illegitimacy or otherwise he did not leave next-of-kin surviving him.

4A. F6[Succession rights.

4A.—(1)F7[F8[Subject to subsection (1A) and section 4B,]in deducing any relationship]for the purposes of this Act, the relationship between every person and his father and mother shall, subject tosection 27Aof this Act (inserted by the Act of 1987), be determined in accordance withsection 3of the Act of 1987, and all other relationships shall be determined accordingly.

F9[(1A) In deducing any relationship for the purposes of this Act, the relationship between every donor-conceived child (within the meaning of the Act of 2015) and his or her parents shall be determined in accordance withsection 5of the Act of 2015 and all other relationships shall be determined accordingly.]

(2)F7[Subject to subsection (2A) (inserted bysection 65(d) of the Act of 2015), where a person]whose father and mother have not married each other dies intestate, he shall be presumed not to have been survived by his father, or by any person related to him through his father, unless the contrary is shown.

F9[(2A) The reference to father in subsection (2) does not include a man who is, undersection 5of the Act of 2015, a parent of the first-mentioned person referred to in that subsection.]

(3)The reference in section 75(1) to Part VI and the reference in the said section 75(1) to the foregoing provisions of the said Part VI shall, in relation to an instrumentinter vivosmade, or a will coming into operation, after the commencement ofPart Vof the Act of 1987, be construed as including references to this section.

F10[(4) This section is without prejudice to section 60 (which section as construed in accordance with section 27(3) of the Act of 1987 relates to the property rights of adopted persons) of the Adoption Act 2010.]

(5)This section shall not affect any rights under the intestacy of a person dying before the commencement ofPart Vof the Act of 1987.

(6)In this sectionF11[and section 4B,]"the Act of 1987" means the Status of Children Act, 1987.]

4B. F12[Special provisions in relation to affected persons

4B.—(1) Where, under this section, a relationship between an affected person and another person is to be deduced in accordance with this subsection, the relationship between the affected person and—

(a) his or her father and mother shall, subject to section 27A of this Act, be determined in accordance with section 3 of theAct of 1987, and

(b) his or her social father and social mother shall, subject to section 27A of this Act, be deemed, respectively, to be the same as the relationship between the affected person and his or her father and mother,

and all other relationships shall be determined accordingly.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) —

(a) where the relationship between an affected person and another person is to be deduced in accordance with that subsection, this Act shall be construed as follows—

(i) a reference, other than in section 4A, to the father of an affected person shall be construed as including a reference to both the father and the social father of the affected person,

(ii) a reference, other than in section 4A, to the mother of an affected person shall be construed as including a reference to both the mother and the social mother of the affected person,

(iii) a reference to the parent of an affected person shall be construed as including a reference to both the parent and the social parent of the affected person,

(iv) a reference to the brother of an affected person shall be construed as including a reference to both the brother of the affected person and a person who is determined in accordance with subsection (1) to have the same relationship with the affected person as a brother of the affected person,

(v) a reference to the sister of an affected person shall be construed as including a reference to both the sister of the affected person and a person who is determined in accordance with subsection (1) to have the same relationship with the affected person as a sister of the affected person,

(vi) a reference to the child of a person shall be construed as including a reference to both the child of the person and an affected person in relation to whom the person is a social parent, and

(vii) a reference to the issue of a person shall be construed as including a reference to both the issue of the person and a person who is determined in accordance with subsection (1) to have the same relationship with the person as the issue of the person,

and

(b) for the purposes of section 71, an affected person shall be deemed to have the same blood relationship with his or her social parent as he or she would have were the social parent his or her parent.

(3) Where—

(a) an order under section 117 or 121, or

(b) a provision to a person out of the estate of a testator pursuant to an order under section 117 or 121 or in connection with proceedings or a claim under such section or sections,

was made before the date on which this subsection comes into operation—

(i) an affected person in whose interest the order, or to whom the provision, was made and in relation to whom the testator concerned was a social parent shall be treated as if the relationship between him or her and the testator was deduced in accordance with subsection (1), and

(ii) the order or provision shall not be rendered invalid by reason of the fact that the testator was the social parent, and not the parent, of any affected person.

(4) The taking, before the date on which this subsection comes into operation, by—

(a) the spouse of a testator of the share of the testator’s estate referred to in section 111(2), or

(b) the civil partner of a testator of the share of the testator’s estate referred to in section 111A(2),

shall not be rendered invalid by reason of the fact that the testator concerned was the social parent, and not the parent, of a person.

(5) Where, in the distribution of the estate of an intestate—

(a) a person, before the date on which this subsection comes into operation, took the estate or a share of the estate, and

(b) at the time of such taking—

(i) the person did not have the relationship with the intestate that would have entitled him or her under Part VI to the taking, but

(ii) the person would have had such a relationship with the intestate had the relationship been deduced in accordance with subsection (1),

the taking of the estate or share of the estate, as the case may be, by the person shall not be rendered invalid by reason of the fact that the person did not have the relationship referred to in paragraph (b)(i).

(6) This subsection applies where—

(a) an intestate dies before the date on which subsection (7) comes into operation, and

(b) administration of the estate of the intestate has been granted on or before the relevant date.

(7) Where—

(a) subsection (6) applies, and

(b) by the date on which this subsection comes into operation, the affected person concerned has not taken the estate or a share of the estate of the intestate to which he or she would be entitled were his relationship with the intestate deduced in accordance with subsection (1),

for the purposes of the distribution under Part VI of the part of the estate which has not yet been taken by any person, the relationship between an affected person and the intestate, and all other relationships, shall be deduced in accordance with subsection (1).

(8) Where—

(a) an intestate dies before the date on which this subsection comes into operation, and

(b) administration of the estate of the intestate is granted after the relevant date,

for the purposes of the distribution under Part VI of the estate of the intestate, the relationship between an affected person and the intestate concerned, and all other relationships, shall be deduced in accordance with subsection (1).

(9) This subsection applies where—

(a) a testator dies before the date on which this subsection comes into operation, and

(b) representation of the testator’s estate is taken out after the relevant date.

(10) Where subsection (9) applies—

(a) for the purposes of sections 111 and 111A, the relationship between the testator and an affected person, and all other shall be deduced in accordance with subsection (1),

(b) where the effect of paragraph (a) is that the share of the estate of the testator to which the spouse or civil partner, as the case may be, of the testator is entitled as a legal right is different to the share to which he or she would have been entitled had the paragraph not applied, section 115(4) shall apply as if the words "or one year from the date on which section 4B(10) comes into operation," were substituted for "or one year from the first taking out of representation of the deceased’s estate," and

(c) for the purposes of section 117—

(i) the relationship between an affected person and the testator, and all other relationships, shall be deduced in accordance with subsection (1), and

(ii) where an affected person, pursuant to subparagraph (i), makes an application under section 117(1), section 117(6) shall apply as if the words "from the date on which section 4B(10) comes into operation" were substituted for "from the first taking out of representation of the deceased’s estate".

(11) For the purposes of this Act, a person is an affected person where—

(a) as a result of the giving of information that was false or misleading, the name of a person other than his or her mother was entered in the register of births as his or her mother, and

(b) the person named as mother and, if applicable, father in the entry assumed the role of a parent in relation to him or her and treated him or her as her or their lawful child,

whether or not the entry has been corrected or cancelled pursuant to Part 3B or section 63, 64 or 65 of the Act of 2004.

(12) In this section—

"register of births" means a register of births maintained by An tArd-Chláraitheoir under section 13 (1)(a) of the Civil Registration Act 2004 , as amended, or under the repealed enactments (within the meaning of that Act);

"relevant date" means the 26th day of April 2022;

"social father" means, in relation to an affected person, the man named in the entry in the register of births referred to in subsection (11) as his or her father;

"social mother" means, in relation to an affected person, the woman named in the entry in the register of births referred to in subsection (11) as his or her mother;

"social parent" means, in relation to an affected person, his or her social father or social mother.]

5. Presumption of simultaneous death in cases of uncertainty. [New]

5.—F13[(1)] Where, after the commencement of this Act, two or more persons have died in circumstances rendering it uncertain which of them survived the other or others, then, for the purposes of the distribution of the estate of any of them, they shall all be deemed to have died simultaneously.

F13[(2) Where immediately prior to the death of two or more persons they held any property as joint tenants and they died, or under subsection (1) were deemed to have died, simultaneously, they shall be deemed to have held the property immediately prior to their deaths as tenants in common in equal shares.

(3) Property deemed under subsection (2) to have been held by persons as tenants in common shall form part of their respective estates.]

6. Jurisdiction. [1961 (No. 39) s. 22 (1) and Third Schedule at ref. nos. 16 and 17]

6.—(1)The jurisdiction conferred on a court by this Act may be exercised by the High Court.

(2)Subject to subsection (3), the Circuit Court shall, concurrently with the High Court, have all the jurisdiction of the High Court to hear and determine proceedings of the following kinds:

(a)an action in respect of the grant or revocation of representation of the estate of a deceased person in case there is any contention in relation thereto;

(b)proceedings in respect of the administration of the estate of a deceased person or in respect of any share therein;

(c)any proceeding under section 56, 115, 117 or 121.

F14[(3) Unless the necessary parties to the proceedings in a cause sign, either before or at any time during the hearing, the form of consent prescribed by rules of court, the Circuit Court shall not, by virtue of subsection (2), have jurisdiction where the estate of the deceased person, in so far as it consists of real estate of which, at the time of his death, he was beneficially seised or possessed, exceedsF15[market value]ofF16[€3,000,000].]

(4)The jurisdiction conferred on the Circuit Court by this section shall be exercised by the judge of the circuit where the deceased, at the time of his death, had a fixed place of abode.

F17[(5) In this section "market value" means, in relation to land, the price that would have been obtained in respect of the unencumbranced fee simple were the land to have been sold on the open market, in the year immediately preceding the bringing of the proceedings concerned, in such manner and subject to such conditions as might reasonably be calculated to have resulted in the vendor obtaining the best price for the land.]

7. Expenses.