The Treasury Solicitor (Crown’s Nominee) Rules 1997

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Rules)

These Rules replace and revoke the Treasury Solicitor (Crown’s Nominee) Rules 1931. They provide for the account (known as the Crown’s Nominee Account) to which section 4 of the Treasury Solicitor Act 1876 requires to be carried all moneys which are received by the Treasury Solicitor (who is the Crown’s nominee for this purpose) having accrued to the Crown as part of the estate of any deceased person, or under any forfeiture, or otherwise by virtue of the royal prerogative, or which is money arising from property which has so accrued.

Rule 3 provides for the Crown’s Nominee Account to be held with the Paymaster General at the Bank of England. Provision is also made for all sums payable by the Treasury Solicitor (as the Crown’s nominee) to be made on that account and for the authority under which such payments may be made.

Rule 4 provides for the preparation and auditing of an annual account of receipts and expenditure and of a balance sheet of assets and liabilities. The accounting year for this purpose is to end on 31st March and, because the accounting years directed by the 1931 Rules end on 31st December, there is a transitional requirement for a fifteen month accounting period to end on 31st March 1999. The account and balance sheet will also show movements on the Crown share account which records balances after estates have been fully administered and the disposal of dissolved company assets, but which do not involve actual receipts or expenditure on the Crown’s Nominee Account.

Rule 5 fixes at three years the period after which the subject matter of grants may be paid to the Crown’s Nominee Account (or, where not consisting of money, sold and the proceeds so paid) if unclaimed within that period. Such grants may be made from money, securities or property accruing to the Crown in the circumstances described above.