01. The office hours of the Principal Registry are 10 to 4 ; Saturdays, 10 to 2.
2. Applications must be made in person and not by letter. The business of the department cannot be transacted with an agent, but only with the applicant.
3. Applicants should bring with them (1) the will (if any); (2) a registrar's certificate of the death ; (3) an account of the whole property ; (4) a list of the debts and funeral expenses of the deceased where such deductions can be made (see paragraph 5), and should attend as soon after 10 A.M. as possible. 4. Bond.— Except in the case of an executor, every applicant is required to enter into a bond with two sureties for the faithful administration of the estate, unless the applicant is the husband of the deceased or the estate does not exceed £50, when one surety is sufficient. The sureties, who must also attend at the registry, need not do so on the same occasion as the applicant, but subsequently if more convenient. Stamp duty (5s.) is payable on the bond if the estate exceeds £100. 5. Fees and Estate the gross value of the estate (real and personal) does not exceed £500, a fixed fee of 15s. may be paid. The estate duty in such instances is 30s. if the property exceeds £100 and does not exceed £300, and 50s. if it exceeds the latter amount. No deduction for debts or funeral expenses
is allowed in these cases. The fees payable by a widow or a child of an intestate whose whole personal estate without any deductions does not exceed £100, vary from 5s. to 1 Ss. In other cases debts and funeral expenses may be deducted. and the fees and duty are determined by the net value of the property and other circumstances. 6. Application at a District the deceased had a fixed place of abode within the district of one of the District Probate Registries application may be made at such district registry. 7. Application at an Inland Revenue Office. —Where the whole property without deduction of debts or funeral expenses does not exceed £500, application may be made at the Inland Revenue offices in certain places where there is no district registry. The fee payable is 15s. in all cases ; and the estate duty where the property exceeds £100 is 30s. or 50s., as the case may be. 8. Application to a County Court Registrar.—Widows and children of intestates, if residing more than three miles from a Probate Registry, and if the whole personal estate does not exceed LIMO, may apply to the Registrar of the County Court of the district within which the deceased lived. The fees vary from 5s. to 13s.