The National Savings Regulations 2015

Payment without a grant of representation

54.—(1) Where, on the death of a depositor the amount held in the depositor’s name does not exceed £5,000 and no probate of the will or letters of administration to the estate are produced to the Director of Savings within what is considered by the Director of Savings to be a reasonable period, the Director of Savings may, for the purposes of these Regulations, pay the amount (or any part of it) in accordance with paragraph (2).

(2) The Director of Savings may pay the amount—

(a) to a person appearing to the Director of Savings to be entitled to take out probate of the will or letters of administration to the estate;

(b) where the deceased has left a will in relation to which the Director of Savings is satisfied that probate or letters of administration would be granted, to a person to whom the amount (or any part of it) would be payable under the will (as appears to the Director of Savings), if probate or letters of administration were granted;

(c) to a person who satisfies the Director of Savings of their entitlement to receive the amount (or any part of it), being—

(i) a person who has paid the funeral expenses of the deceased;

(ii) a creditor of the deceased; or

(iii) a person who has a beneficial interest in the estate of the deceased;

(d) if the deceased was a British citizen and the next of kin appears to the Director of Savings to reside outside the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, to any officer or authority who, as appears to the Director of Savings, may be entrusted with distributing the amount properly;

(e) if the deceased was a seaman of a foreign country, being a country with which a treaty has been made in relation to the payment of money due to seamen, to the consular authority of that country;

(f) if the deceased was a foreign subject, not being a seaman to whom sub-paragraph (e) applies, to the consular authority of the country to which the deceased belonged, or to any authority who, as appears to the Director of Savings, may be entrusted with distributing the amount properly;

(g) in a case where the estate of the deceased appears to the Director of Savings to have devolved upon the Crown, the Duchy of Lancaster or the Duchy of Cornwall, to the Treasury Solicitor, the Solicitor for the affairs of the Duchy of Lancaster, or the Solicitor for the affairs of the Duchy of Cornwall respectively,

but where a person to whom an amount may be paid under subparagraph (b) or (c) has died before payment, the amount (or any part of it) may be paid to a person to whom it would be paid as if the first mentioned person was, immediately before death, a person in paragraph (1).

(3) Despite any legal requirement to the contrary, a person to whom an amount may be paid under paragraph (2)(b) or (c) (or under the proviso to paragraph (2)) may, if having attained the age of sixteen years, give a receipt for the payment in an approved manner and the receipt shall be valid without the signature of another person; but if that person by reason of age or for any other reason may not accept payment, the Director of Savings may pay the amount to a person who the Director of Savings is satisfied will apply it for the maintenance or otherwise for the benefit of that person.

(4) Subject to paragraph (3), the Director of Savings in making a payment under paragraph (2)(b) or (c) (or under the proviso to paragraph (2)) must have regard to legal requirements relating to the distribution of the estates of deceased persons, but the Director of Savings may depart from those requirements to the extent it is considered by the Director of Savings that they would cause hardship or inconvenience.

(5) In this regulation “will” includes a codicil.

(6) Nothing in this regulation affects the operation of a nomination made under these Regulations.