Wills drawn so they hold, and estates administered when someone has died: grants of probate and letters of administration from the Probate Registry, deeds of assent to pass land to the people entitled to it, resealing of grants made elsewhere in the Commonwealth, and the disputes that arise between beneficiaries.
Which of these is you?
- Someone has died and left a will The executor applies for a grant of probate.
- Someone has died without a will Who inherits, and in what shares. **(amended)**
- You want to make a will Signed and witnessed so that it holds.
- Land still in the deceased's name The grant, then a deed of assent.
- A relative died abroad and left property here Resealing a Commonwealth grant, or a new grant here.
- Left out of a will, or left too little A claim for reasonable provision, within six months of the grant.
Ask about this
Have an estate matter?
Say who has died, whether there is a will, and what the estate holds — a house, land, accounts.
What this covers
- Wills drawn, signed and witnessed the way the Wills and Probate Act requires, so they are not undone later
- Grants of probate where there is a will, authorising the executor to act
- Letters of administration where there is none, appointing the person who will administer the estate
- Intestacy who inherits, and in what shares, when there is no will
- Deeds of assent the document that passes the deceased's land to the person entitled to it
- Resealing of foreign grants recognising a grant made in another Commonwealth country so it reaches property here
- Estate accounts and distribution collecting what is owed, paying what is due, dividing what is left
- Claims by dependants where a will, or the intestacy rules, leave a spouse, partner, former spouse, child or other dependant without reasonable provision. The claim must be made within six months of the grant unless the court allows more time
- Contested wills whether the will can be challenged, and the estate protected meanwhile, short of trial
Handled elsewhere
- The trial of a contested will or a dispute between beneficiaries Civil Litigation
- Family land that came through an estate Conveyancing and Real Estate
How it works
Everything begins with a consultation. You set out who has died, what they left, and whether there is a will. That conversation is for working out who has the right to apply, what the estate consists of, and what stands between the family and a clean distribution.
- The application. The papers the Registry requires assembled — the death certificate, the original will where there is one, and a sworn account of what the estate holds — and filed.
- The estate. Assets identified and valued, debts settled, land traced to its title, so that what is distributed is what there is.
- Distribution. The grant issued, the deeds of assent signed and registered, the estate divided and accounted for.
In detail
Nothing can be done until the grant
Someone has died, and the question comes quickly: who can deal with the house, the bank account, the car. The answer is no one, until the court says so. Where there is a will, the executor applies for a grant of probate. Where there is none, the person with the best right applies for letters of administration. Both come from the Probate Registry of the Supreme Court, and both take time.
Dying without a will
Dying without a will does not mean the estate goes to the State. It means the law decides who gets it. A spouse and children share it, the spouse taking one half and the children the other half between them. A spouse with no children or other descendants takes everything. Children alone share equally, the children of a child who has died taking that child's share. A partner of the opposite sex who lived with the deceased as a couple for at least five years immediately before the death takes as a spouse would, if there is no surviving spouse. Where a spouse survives but was living apart from the deceased, the partner can share only in what was acquired while the partner and the deceased lived together, and then subject to the rights of the spouse and of the deceased's children and other descendants. Either way, the partner must file a notification with the Registrar within twenty-eight days of the death and then obtain a court order, so this cannot wait. Only where there is no spouse, partner, child, parent or other relative close enough to inherit, the line stopping at uncles and aunts, does the estate pass to the State.
Making a valid will
A will avoids all of that, if it was made properly. The Wills and Probate Act requires it to be in writing and signed at the end by the person making it, or by someone else in their presence and at their direction, the signature being made or acknowledged before two witnesses present at the same time, who then sign it themselves in the presence of that person and of each other. The person making it must be at least twenty-one. A will written out by hand and never witnessed is not a will, however clear its wishes, and a gift to a witness, or to a witness's husband or wife, is void.
Land in an estate
Land does not pass by the grant alone. Once the grant is issued, the executor or administrator signs a deed of assent vesting the land in the person entitled, and that deed is registered like any other. Until it is, the land stands in the deceased's name, and the beneficiary can neither sell it nor borrow against it. Where an estate is being divided, a deed of partial assent passes part of it.
Grants from abroad, and tax
Where a grant was made in a Commonwealth country, the United Kingdom, Canada or a Commonwealth Caribbean country for example, it can be resealed here so that it covers property in Trinidad and Tobago. A grant from outside the Commonwealth, including the United States, cannot be resealed; a grant has to be obtained here. A local grant reaches only local assets. There is no estate duty or inheritance tax in this country; besides the deceased's own debts, what the estate pays is the cost of its own administration.
Claims and disputes
A spouse, an unmarried partner who qualifies, a former spouse who has not remarried, a child, a child treated as one of the family, or anyone the deceased was maintaining can ask the court for reasonable financial provision where the will, or the intestacy rules, leave them without it. The claim must be made within six months of the grant unless the court allows more time. Where a will is challenged, or beneficiaries fall out over the division, the trial of that dispute is civil litigation. What is done here is the will drawn properly, the grant obtained, the land assented, the estate distributed, and, where a dispute is coming, the reading of the position before anything is filed.
Questions
What happens if someone dies without a will in Trinidad and Tobago?
The law decides. With a spouse and children, half goes to the spouse and half is shared equally by the children. A spouse alone takes everything; children alone share equally. If there is no spouse, an opposite-sex partner who lived with the deceased as a couple for the five years before the death takes the spouse's place, but must file a notification with the Registrar within twenty-eight days of the death, then obtain a court order. The State takes only if there is no relative up to uncles and aunts.
How do I transfer land after someone dies?
If the land was owned by joint tenants, as many couples own their home, it passes to the survivor without a grant; the survivor records the death, or for Real Property Act land applies to be registered as owner. Otherwise, including a share held as a tenant in common, the executor or administrator obtains the grant, then signs a deed of assent to the person entitled, registered like any other deed. Land left in a dead person's name for years is a common problem, and it grows harder each generation.
How long does probate take?
No one can promise you a date. The Probate Registry has had a substantial and publicly acknowledged backlog, and a grant depends on the Registry's pace as much as on anyone's. What is within your control is filing an application that is complete and correct the first time, so that it does not go to the back of the queue over a defect.
What makes a will valid?
Writing; the signature of the person making it at the end; two witnesses present together when it is signed or acknowledged, who then sign in that person's presence and in each other's; and a maker who is at least twenty-one. A will that fails on any of these is not admitted to probate. A will made abroad may, in some cases, be accepted for personal property here, though not for land, if it follows the law of the place where the person was domiciled.
Can I witness a will if I am named in it?
You can, and the will still stands, but any gift to you, or to your husband or wife, is void. Witnesses should be people who take nothing under the will, and whose spouses take nothing either.
I was left out of a will. Can I challenge it?
If you were the spouse, a qualifying partner, a former spouse who has not remarried, a child, a child of the family, or someone the deceased was maintaining, you can ask the court for reasonable financial provision from the estate. Apply within six months of the grant; after that, only with the court's permission. A challenge to the will itself, for example that it was not properly signed, is a separate claim.
My relative died abroad and left property here. What do I do?
If a grant was made in a Commonwealth country, it can be resealed in Trinidad and Tobago so that it reaches the property here. If it was made elsewhere, the United States for example, or there is none, a grant is applied for here. Either way, a grant from another country does nothing here until one of those steps is taken.
Is there inheritance tax in Trinidad and Tobago?
No. There is no estate duty or inheritance tax. The estate pays the deceased's debts, including any tax they owed, and the costs of its own administration. No stamp duty is charged on the assent that passes land to the person entitled, although a sale of the land by the estate, or a later gift of it, is stamped in the usual way.
