Succession Act 1965 section 24

Liability of estate of personal representative

Section 24 deals with what happens when a personal representative misuses estate assets and then dies before being held to account.

• A personal representative who wastes or converts deceased's estate assets to their own use is personally liable for that misuse.
• If that defaulting personal representative themselves dies, the liability does not disappear — it passes to their own estate.
• The personal representative of the defaulter becomes liable for the waste or conversion, but only to the extent of the defaulter's available assets.
• This rule applies equally to a lawfully appointed personal representative and to an executor in his own wrong (someone who interferes with estate assets without proper authority).