Australian Capital Territory Consolidated Acts

ADMINISTRATION AND PROBATE ACT 1929 - SECT 32B

    (1)     If a grant of probate or administration has been revoked under this Act—

        (a)     the executor or administrator to whom the grant was made must account to the Supreme Court for the property that he or she has received, or that has vested in him or her, as the executor or administrator, and the court may make the orders it considers appropriate in relation to the disposal by the executor or administrator of so much of that property as remains in his or her hands; and

        (b)     the executor or administrator is not liable in relation to property that he or she has disposed of under the grant in good faith before the revocation of the grant if he or she complied with section 9B in relation to the disposing of that property; and

        (c)     the revocation of the grant does not, of its own force, invalidate a disposal of property made by, or to, the executor or administrator before the revocation of the grant; and

        (d)     a person entitled to any property that has been distributed by the executor or administrator to whom the grant was made may apply to the court for an order under subsection (2); and

        (e)     an action does not lie against the registrar-general for loss suffered by any person in consequence of the registration of a dealing with land under the Land Titles Act 1925 , being a dealing lawfully made by the executor or administrator before the revocation of the grant; and

        (f)     the court may make the vesting orders it considers appropriate.

    (2)     If the Supreme Court, on application made under subsection (1) (d) in relation to property, is satisfied that the applicant is the person entitled to the property and that the respondent to the application is the appropriate person in relation to the property, the court may make an order directing the respondent—

        (a)     if the respondent is in possession of the property—to return the property to the applicant or pay to the applicant the sum the court considers reasonable in the circumstances; or

        (b)     in any other case—to pay to the applicant the sum the court considers reasonable in the circumstances.

    (3)     For this section, the "appropriate person", in relation to property distributed under a probate or administration that has been revoked, is—

        (a)     if the person to whom the property was so distributed is alive—that person; or

        (b)     if the person to whom the property was so distributed is dead—the executor of the will or administrator of the will or estate of that person or a person who has benefited as a result of the property having been distributed to that person.

    (4)     This section does not affect any entitlement of an executor or administrator to commission, or to any protection, indemnity, reimbursement or right under any other section of this Act.