Latest update April 1st, 2025 5:37 PM
Law to be revised to allow for better access to monies left by deceased persons – AG
Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall SC
Kaieteur News – Government has moved to revise the Deceased Persons Estates’ Administration Act in a bid to help give relatives of the dead better access to monies that they left behind. This is according to Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall SC. Nandlall tabled the amendments to the law during a sitting of Parliament held on August 9, last. During an airing of his programme ‘Issues in the News’ on Tuesday, Nandlall disclosed that the amendment is part of Government’s efforts to help relieve citizens who have to overcome several legal barriers to access their loved ones finances once they have passed on.
Nandlall noted that under the current law, when an individual passes away, their assets are placed into an estate. According to the AG, the management and distribution of the estate typically require a legal process. If you die and leave a will, you appoint an executor and the executor goes and takes charge of your assets and gives effect to your instructions in your will… However that executor must apply for probate to manage the estate similarly if there is no will then that person must apply for letters of administration to manage and distribute the estate’s assets,” he explained.
According to the AG only spouses, a child or a sibling or next to kin can apply for letters of administration. However the process of obtaining the letters of administration has proven time-consuming and costly for the average Guyanese. As such, he noted that in an attempt to address this issue, two years ago, the State amended the current law to allow for a relative/beneficiary of deceased to be able to access their finances held in bank accounts without having to undergo the lengthy process of obtaining a letter of administration. The legislation was also amended to increase the legal threshold from $1000 to $750,000.
“This allowed beneficiaries to access funds of up to $750,000 without needing letters of administration,” the Attorney General explained while noting that the amendment however still did not make provisions for financial assets held in place other than banks. “The provision did not cater for financial assets left in places like credit union funds or final salaries… The latest amendment seeks to rectify this by expanding the $750,000 threshold to include all types of holdings, not just bank accounts. This change will enable beneficiaries to access funds from various sources, such as credit unions or unpaid wages, without undergoing the lengthy and often costly probate process,” the Minister of Legal Affairs pointed out as he emphasized that the update is intended to further alleviate financial strains on families during difficult times.
According to the Explanatory Memorandum of the Deceased Persons Estate Administration Amendment Bill 2024 the amendment pertains to cases where letters of administration are absent. The memorandum reads that “Section 20 of the Deceased Persons Estates’ Administration Act is amended by the substitution of that section to provide that in the absence of letters of administration, a person may pay to a claimant, money deposited by the deceased person with the person or money owed by the person to the deceased person, a sum not exceeding seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”
The amendment adds that the “person with whom the money was deposited by the deceased person or by whom money was owed to the deceased person includes but is not limited to any individual, anybody of persons corporate or unincorporated, any financial institution or national insurance body, and includes the State”.
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