Chain of Representation
The chain of representation is as simple as the name suggests. When named as an Executor under a Grant of Probate or an Administrator under Letters of Administration you are the person who is representing the Estate of the deceased person. Thus representation is granted to you. If something happens to you then you need to have something in place that continues that representation; i.e the chain of representation. This has to be a Will. If you not have a Will in place, you die intestate, then you break the Chain of Representation.
Once the chain of representation has been broken. The administration of the first estate passes back to the next of kin on the first estate. This means that even when probate, or letters of administration, has been granted on your own estate. The person named as the administrator on your estate has no legal standing to finish the administration of the first estate.
Grant De Bonis Non
When administration has been passed back to the next of kin of the first to die, that person cannot just take over and sign papers. They would need to go back to Probate court to apply for a Grant De Bonis Non. This is the title of the document that new administrator would need to apply for. If the original person had died testate as opposed to intestate; in other words they had made a will themselves, then the Grant becomes known as the Grant De Bonis Non with Will Annexed.
When it comes to making a will, many people who are appointed as an Executor or Administrator do not want to think about there own mortality. But they must do. If not it could be that the family of the first to die were excluded from the Will of that person. And then all of a sudden that family is required in order to apply for the Grant De Bonis Non. Leading to all sorts of complications to arise.
Will Annexed
A simple term meaning the Will is also attached to the Court Order. In the terms of a Grant De Bonis Non with Will Annexed, meaning it’s the main court order. But because the Executor in the will died Intestate the new court order has the original Will annexed to it.
