Exchequer Court of York - Admon to widow 1829

[cordley]

I have a person who dies in 1829, intestate and Admon is granted to his widow using forms headed "In the Exchequer Court of York".

After the event she signs that the estate was less than £5.

However, the document also says (pre-printed) that she is 'beholden and obliged to .. Commissary of the Exchequer Court ...  Lord Archbishop of York ..  in the sum of four pounds"  (my precis).

I find it difficult to believe that she would have to pay this much - sort of Probate Tax?

Can anyone comment more on this.

I haven't attached the doc because of copyright... 

Pam

[Pennines]

I don't know the answer Pam -- but I have seen similar entries before where an amount had to be paid to the Court.

Wikipedia have an article about it -- but there may be a more explanatory one elsewhere. It does seem an awfully high amount to pay on an estate valued at £5 -- unbelievable really.

See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_inheritance_taxes_in_the_United_Kingdom

[arthurk]

Without seeing the document(s) I can't be 100% certain, but it sounds like the amount of the administration bond. The sum wasn't paid up front, but the administrator agreed to be bound over in that amount: if they didn't administer the estate properly within the time set down, it then became payable.

Four pounds is in fact a very small sum compared to what is often seen on a bond, presumably because the value of the estate was also very low.

[cordley]

Thank you both for that - it certainly was a complicated process!!  It makes sense that this was just an amount that had to be paid if the admin wasn't done properly, which I guess it was.  Sadly the papers don't include the inventory, but they did give me additional family info.

Pam