Regulation 18 Payment without a grant of representation

(1)

Where the total amount due by the trustees of a trustee savings bank to a depositor at the time of his death does not exceed £500, exclusive of interest, and probate of his will is not, or letters of administration to his estate are not, produced to the trustees within such time as they think reasonable, if such depositor has made no nomination, or so far as any nomination does not extend, the trustees may, without requiring probate of the will or letters of administration to the estate of the depositor, in their discretion pay or distribute the amount so due or any part thereof to or among the following person or persons or any one or more of the following persons (exclusively of the others) who shall in the opinion of the trustees establish a valid claim to the said amount or any part thereof—

(a)

a person entitled to take out probate of the will of the depositor or letters of administration to his estate;

(b)

a person who has paid the funeral expenses of the depositor;

(c)

a creditor of the depositor;

(d)

a person who has a beneficial interest in the estate of the depositor;

(e)

a person undertaking to maintain any person who by reason of any incapacity whatsoever (including minority) is unable to give the trustees a legal discharge for the moneys or for a share of the moneys of a deceased depositor due under this Regulation to the person who is unable to give a legal discharge as aforesaid;

(f)

if the depositor was a British subject and his relatives reside outside the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, such officer or authority as shall appear to the trustees to be suitable to dispose of the amount due in accordance with the appropriate law;

(g)

if the depositor was a seaman of a foreign country, being a country with which a treaty has been made in respect of the payment of moneys due to seamen, the consular authority of that country;

(h)

if the depositor was a foreign subject, not being a seaman to whom the provisions of sub-paragraph (g) above apply, the consular authority of the country to which the depositor belonged, or such other consular authority as may appear to the trustees to be appropriate, on such assurance as to the ultimate disposition of the amount due as is satisfactory to the trustees;

(i)

in a case where the estate of the depositor appears to have devolved upon the Crown, the Duchy of Lancaster or the Duchy of Cornwall, the Treasury Solicitor, the Solicitor to the Duchy of Lancaster, or the Solicitor to the Duchy of Cornwall, as the case requires.

(2)

The receipt of any person to whom payment may be made under this Regulation or under Regulation 14(6) above shall be a good discharge to the trustees for the sum paid, and any such receipt may be signed by any such person who has attained the age of 16 years, notwithstanding that he has not attained the age of 18 years.