Succession Act 1965 section 124

"Trustee" in Statute of Limitations, 1957, not to include a bailiff

Section 124 clarifies that a person acting as a bailiff in possession of a deceased person's estate property is not to be treated as a trustee for the purposes of limitation periods.

• A bailiff holding property from a deceased person's estate on behalf of another person is not considered a "trustee" under the Statute of Limitations, 1957.
• This distinction matters because trustees face different (often longer or unlimited) limitation periods compared to other parties when claims are brought against them.
• Because a bailiff is excluded from the definition of trustee, a bailiff may rely on the standard limitation periods as a defence against claims by beneficiaries of the estate.
• This provision overruled the earlier court decision in Rice v. Begley [1920] 1 I.R. 243, which had treated bailiffs as trustees for limitation purposes.