Succession Act 1965 section 28

Representation of real and personal estate separately or together

Section 28 explains how grants of representation can cover real estate (property such as land and buildings) and personal estate (all other assets such as money, investments, and personal belongings) either separately or together, and sets out a restriction where the estate is insolvent.

• A grant of representation can be made separately for real estate and for personal estate, or as a single combined grant covering both types of asset.
• A grant can be made for real estate alone even if there is no personal estate, and likewise for personal estate alone even if there is no real estate.
• Where a deceased person's estate is known to be insolvent (i.e. the debts exceed the assets), the grant must not be split into separate grants for different types of estate.
• The only exception to the insolvency restriction is for trust estate, which may still be dealt with under a separate grant even when the wider estate is insolvent.

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