Hong Kong Ordinances

PROBATE AND ADMINISTRATION ORDINANCE - SECT 60J

Prohibition against intermeddling of estate

(Past version on 11/02/2006).

PART VI

ADMINISTRATION OF ASSETS

(1) This section applies—

   (a)  in relation to the estate of any person who dies on or after 11
        February 2006; and (Amended L.N. 210 of 2005)

   (b)  to—

        (i)    any part of an estate; or

        (ii)   any property, situated in Hong Kong when the deceased concerned
               dies.

(2) Any person who, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, deals
with—

   (a)  any part of the estate of a deceased person; or

   (b)  any property held by the deceased in the capacity of a trustee or the
        manager of a Tso or Tong, which is not set out in the schedule and
        additional schedule (if any)—

   (c)  exhibited under section 15A;

   (d)  annexed to a grant made in respect of the estate; or

   (e)  annexed to an instrument effecting the sealing of a grant in respect
        of the estate under section 49AA, commits an offence.

(3) Subject to section 60K(9), any person who, being neither the executor of a
deceased person nor the person entitled in priority to the administration of
the estate of a deceased person, takes possession of or in any way
administers—

   (a)  any part of the estate; or

   (b)  any part of the income of any part of the estate, without—

   (c)  lawful authority or reasonable excuse; or

   (d)  first filing an application in respect of the estate—

        (i)    to the Official Administrator for the exercise of his power
               under section 15;

        (ii)   for a grant under section 24; or

        (iii)  for sealing of a grant under section 49, supported by an
               affidavit exhibiting a schedule, or a corrective affidavit
               exhibiting an additional schedule, setting out such part of the
               estate, commits an offence.

(4) If an employee of a bank through whom the bank performed its function
under section 60B(4), 60D(1), (4) or (6) or 60E(4) has acted in good faith and
has exercised due care for that purpose, the employee and the bank shall, for
the purposes of determining whether he or it has committed an offence under
subsection (2) or (3) by performing that function, be regarded as having acted
with lawful authority.

(5) If—

   (a)  a bank acting through an employee of it allows a surviving renter of a
        jointly rented safe deposit box with survivorship arrangement to
        exercise, subject to section 60I, his right of access to the contents
        of the safe deposit box under the contract for the renting of the safe
        deposit box; and

   (b)  the employee has acted in good faith and has exercised due care for
        that purpose, the bank and the employee shall, for the purposes of
        determining whether it or he has committed an offence under subsection
        (2) or (3) by allowing the exercise of that right, be regarded as
        having acted with lawful authority.

(6) Subject to section 60K(9), any executor of a deceased person or any person
entitled in priority to the administration of the estate of a deceased person
who—

   (a)  takes possession of, or in any way administers, any part of the estate
        or the income of any part of the estate within the prescribed period
        commencing on the date on which the deceased dies; and

   (b)  fails to submit within the prescribed period an application in respect
        of the estate—

        (i)    to the Official Administrator for the exercise of his power
               under section 15;

        (ii)   for a grant under section 24; or

        (iii)  for sealing of a grant under section 49, supported by an
               affidavit exhibiting a schedule, or a corrective affidavit
               exhibiting an additional schedule, setting out such part of the
               estate, commits an offence.

(7) Subject to section 60K(9), any executor of a deceased person or any person
entitled in priority to the administration of the estate of a deceased person
who takes possession of, or in any way administers, any part of the estate or
the income of any part of the estate after the expiry of the prescribed period
commencing on the date on which the deceased dies without first submitting an
application in respect of the estate—

   (a)  to the Official Administrator for the exercise of his power under
        section 15;

   (b)  for a grant under section 24; or

   (c)  for sealing of a grant under section 49, supported by an affidavit
        exhibiting a schedule, or a corrective affidavit exhibiting an
        additional schedule, setting out such part of the estate commits an
        offence.

(8) In subsections (6) and (7), “prescribed period”—

   (a)  in a case in which—

        (i)    an application to the Official Administrator for the exercise
               of his power under section 15; or

        (ii)   an application for a grant under section 24, is made, means 12
               months;

   (b)  in a case in which an application for sealing of a grant under
        section 49 is made, means 18 months.

(9) A person who commits an offence under subsection (2), (3), (6) or (7)
shall be liable on conviction to—

   (a)  a fine at level 3; and

   (b)  an additional penalty equal to the value of—

        (i)    the relevant part of the relevant estate; or

        (ii)   the relevant part of the income of the relevant part of the
               relevant estate, as the case may be. (Added 21 of 2005 s. 24)