If any person takes possession of, or in any manner deals with, any part of the real or personal estate of any person deceased without obtaining administration of his estate within six months after his decease, or within two months after the termination of any suit or dispute respecting the grant of such administration, or within such further time as shall be allowed by the Commissioner on application, the Commissioner may apply to the Supreme Court, by summons, for an order commanding the person so taking possession or dealing as aforesaid to deliver to the Commissioner, within such time as the Commissioner may order, an account of the estate of the deceased, and of its value, and to pay such duty as would have been payable if administration had been obtained and the cost of the proceedings, or to show cause to the contrary; and if no cause, or no sufficient cause, be shown to the contrary, the said person so offending shall, in addition to the duties payable by him as aforesaid, forfeit a sum not exceeding five hundred pounds in the discretion of the Judge; but if cause be shown such order shall be made as seems just.

Such proceedings shall be taken and such order made in accordance with the rules of the Supreme Court for the time being in force, so far as they are applicable.

From and after the passing of this Act no real or personal property whatsoever in New Zealand belonging to any person who has died or may die abroad shall vest in any person or persons under any devise, intestacy, or by heirship, until probate or letters of administration of such property has been granted in New Zealand, or if probate or letters of administration of such property has or have been granted in any place out of the colony, unless such probate or letters of administration are resealed in New Zealand as hereinafter provided.

Upon such property becoming legally vested in accordance with the provisions of this section, the legal estate therein shall vest as from the time of the death of the person from whom it is obtained.

No probate or letters of administration granted in any place outside of New Zealand shall be received in evidence of the title of any person to any real or personal property in New Zealand, until such probate or letters of administration are resealed in New Zealand as hereinafter provided.

In any case where probate or letters of administration have been granted in any part of Her Majesty’s dominions outside of New Zealand effect may be given to such probate or letters of administration in New Zealand by having the same resealed in New Zealand by the Supreme Court thereof in manner provided in “The Intercolonial Probate Act, 1879.”

For the purposes aforesaid, the Act last mentioned is hereby extended, and shall apply and shall be read mutatis mutandis for the purpose of applying such Act to all probates and letters of administration granted by any competent Court in any part of Her Majesty’s dominions outside of New Zealand.

All probates and letters of administration and exemplifications thereof respectively granted in New Zealand or resealed therein under the foregoing sections of this Act, or under “The Inter-colonial Probate Act, 1879,” shall be deemed to be included in the term “administration” as defined in “The Deceased Persons Estates Act, 1881,” and shall, immediately upon the grant thereof, be sent by the Registrar or Clerk of the Court granting or resealing the same to the Commissioner of Stamps as provided in section ten of the Act last mentioned.

Sections three to six, both inclusive, of this Act shall be read subject to any law for the time being in force authorising the payments to be made out of the estate of any deceased person without requiring probate or letters of administration.

Subsection (d) of section five of the said Act is hereby amended by the addition of the following words:

For the, purposes of the said Act and this Act

There shall be payable under the said Act in respect of any property comprised in any deed of gift the same duties as are payable under the said Act in respect of property comprised in any settlement whereof the trusts and dispositions take effect after the death of the settlor.

The said duties shall be paid out of the property gifted, in addition to any duties which may be payable under any law relating to stamp duties, in respect to property alienated by deed, and shall be paid when the persons to whom the property passes receive the same.

Every deed of gift of any property as aforesaid, containing trusts or dispositions, to take effect during the life of the donor, shall be registered in manner hereinafter described.

The trustees, or, failing them, some person benefited under the deed of gift, shall produce such deed to the Commissioner, with a duly-certified copy thereof, and shall deliver such copy to the Commissioner, together with a statement setting forth the property comprised in such deed of gift; and such statement shall be verified by a declaration to be made in the form and manner prescribed as to statements of property under section five of the said Act.

The deed of gift shall be registered within two months after the trusts or dispositions therein shall take effect, provided that the Commissioner may, in any case, upon sufficient cause shown, allow further time for the registration of any such deed.

Every trustee named in any deed of gift and acting thereunder, and every person benefited under any such deed who has notice thereof, shall be liable to a penalty of not more than ten pounds for every day during which such deed is unregistered after the expiration of the aforesaid two months, or of the further time aforesaid which the Commissioner may have granted:

Provided always that no penalty shall exceed twice the amount of the duty payable.

Section thirty-one of the said Act is hereby amended as follows: All the words at the beginning of the section from “if” in the first line to the word “duty,” both inclusive, in the second line are hereby repealed, and there shall be substituted therefor the following words: “If after an assessment under this Act has been made it shall be discovered that too little or no duty at all.”

Section thirty-three of the said Act is hereby repealed, and the following substituted in lieu thereof:—

An appeal to the Supreme Court in the manner provided by section fifty-five of “The Stamp Act, 1882,” may be made from any assessment of the Commissioner under the said Act or this Act.

Section thirty-six of the said Act is hereby repealed, and the following substituted in lieu thereof:—

No duty shall be payable in respect of any real or personal property to which any wife or husband shall become absolutely entitled by reason of the wife or the husband’s intestacy or under her or his will or a settlement or deed of gift made by her or him.

Section thirty-eight of the said Act is hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof it is hereby enacted as follows:—

If there is a life estate or interest granted in any property by will, deed of gift, or settlement, to which a widower or widow becomes entitled, then the trustee, executor, or administrator shall be chargeable with and shall pay the duties payable in respect of such property by the persons entitled thereto in remainder, or by the residuary legatees, or other persons entitled to such property after the determination of the life estate or interest therein: Provided that the capital value of the said property is equal to a sum which, invested at six pounds per centum per annum, would produce a yearly income of not less than five hundred pounds.

The said duties shall be a first charge upon the said property until paid; but may be paid out of moneys raised on the security of the said property by way of charge, mortgage, or otherwise.

The trustee, executor, or administrator may pay the said duties during the lifetime of the widower or widow, although the capital value of such property is not equal to such a sum as hereinabove mentioned in subsection one; and in any such case the Commissioner may refund to the widower or widow any amount not exceeding fifty per centum of the duties so paid.

Section thirty-nine of the said Act is hereby repealed, and the following substituted in lieu thereof:—

When it shall be necessary for the purposes of the said Act or this Act to ascertain the value of the interest of any person whomsoever in any estate of a deceased person, the Commissioner and the administrator may agree as to the value of such interest, and, failing such agreement, such value shall be decided by such actuary as the Commissioner and the administrator may agree upon, and, if they cannot agree as to the actuary to decide the same, then by some person appointed by the Governor.

Section forty of the said Act is hereby amended by striking out the words “acquires any property,” in the first line, and substituting the words “is absolutely entitled to any property” in lieu thereof.

Section forty-nine is hereby amended by adding thereto the following words: “In addition to double the amount of the duty for which such person would have been otherwise liable.”

Where under the said Act or this Act the liability to duty is declared to be the first charge upon real estate, the Commissioner may register in the Land Transfer District or the Deeds Registration District, as the case may be, against the real estate so charged a memorandum under his hand setting forth the property intended to be affected and the amount of duty chargeable, and upon the registration of such memorandum as aforesaid the same shall be deemed and taken to be notice to all persons of the existence of such charge as aforesaid, and to take priority over all dealings and dispositions made subsequent to such memorandum as aforesaid being registered.

The Schedule to the said Act is hereby repealed, and there shall be substituted for the same the Schedule hereto annexed.

And the said Act shall be read and construed as if the Schedule to this Act had originally been enacted therein.