Administration of Estates Act 1925

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to consolidate Enactments relating to the Administration of the Estates of Deceased Persons
Citation	15 & 16 Geo. 5. c. 23
Territorial extent	England and Wales
Dates
Royal assent	9 April 1925
Commencement	1 January 1926
Other legislation
Repeals/revokes	13 Edw. 1. c. 19 13 Edw. 1. c. 23 25 Edw. 1. c. 7. Statute concerning tenants by the Curtesy of England 4 Edw. 3. c. 7 25 Edw. 3 Stat. 5. c. 5 31 Edw. 3 Stat. 1. c. 11 21 Hen. 8. c. 4 21 Hen. 8. c. 5 43 Eliz. 1. c. 8 Statute of Distribution 30 Cha. 2. c. 7 1 Ja. 2. c. 17 Administration of Estates Act 1798 Administration of Estates Act 1833 Administration of Estates Act 1868 Debts Recovery Act 1830 Debts Recovery Act 1838 Debts Recovery Act 1848 Dower Act 1833 Executors Act 1830 Intestates Estates Act 1884 Intestates Estates Act 1890 Real Estate Charges Act 1854 Real Estate Charges Act 1867
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

The Administration of Estates Act 1925 (15 & 16 Geo. 5. c. 23) is an act passed in 1925 by the British Parliament that consolidated, reformed, and simplified the rules relating to the administration of estates in England and Wales.

Principal reforms

All authority that a personal representative had with respect to chattels real (such as fixtures) was extended to cover any matter dealing with real estate as well.^[1]

With respect to the property of any estate (excepting entailed interests), there were abolished:^[2]

• all existing rules of descent (whether arising from the common law, custom, gavelkind, Borough English or otherwise)
• tenancy by the curtesy and any other estate a husband may have where his wife dies intestate
• dower, freebench and any other estate a wife may have where her husband dies intestate
• escheat to the Crown, the Duchy of Lancaster, the Duchy of Cornwall, or to a mesne lord

The rules governing the distribution of intestate estates were replaced by a single statutory framework.^[3]

Later significant amendments

The Act has been subsequently amended in certain respects by the following:

• Intestates' Estates Act 1952
• Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975
• Estates of Deceased Persons (Forfeiture Rule and Law of Succession) Act 2011
• Inheritance and Trustees' Powers Act 2014

In fiction

The Act plays a major role (as the 'Property Act') in the 1927 mystery novel Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers, its commencement with respect to intestate estates providing the motive for a seemingly motiveless murder which Lord Peter Wimsey must solve.