Orders of the Day — WILLS, &c. (PUBLICATION) BILL

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 10 April 1959.

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Photo of Mr Nigel Fisher Mr Nigel Fisher , Surbiton 12:00, 10 April 1959

I do not propose to detain the House for long in view of the slow progress that we have made this morning, but, as I understand, my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Cheltenham (Major Hicks Beach) advanced no argument in support of his Amendment at all. I hope that my hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Mr. Kimball) will not accept the Amendment.

I think it rather important that the name of the executor or administrator should be known. It would be rather ridiculous if it were not. We get cases where relations of a deceased person may have settled abroad, in the Commonwealth or somewhere else, or even at home in the United Kingdom, and lose touch with the family. It can certainly do no harm to anyone to publish the name of an executor, and in many cases it would be a useful and convenient thing to do.

It may be that a testator has promised a friend or relation a personal memento, perhaps a piece of furniture or a pair of cuff links. The friend or relation may, after the death of the testator, want to know whom to contact. He may want to ask, "What happened to the silver snuffbox which old Tom promised me?" or something of that sort. There is no harm in that. There seems to be a case for including the name of the executor on grounds of convenience and no case at all for excluding it. Certainly, my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Cheltenham gave no grounds for so doing when moving his Amendment.

The second Amendment, which I understand we are discussing together with this Amendment, seeks to insert: not being a beneficiary under the Will. I think that it would be quite wrong to insert those words because, as we all know, persons often leave an executor a small sum of money for the trouble of being an executor. There is really no harm in that. If we are right in resisting the first Amendment, and if we think that the name of the executor should be published as a matter of general convenience, which is my view, then there seems to be no purpose at all in whittling away the decision which I hope we shall take on the first of my hon. and gallant Friend's Amendments by accepting the second Amendment.

The fact that the executor may himself receive a small sum under the will is not, as far as I can see, relevant to the principle of the Bill or to what it is trying to achieve. Therefore, I hope that my hon. Friend the Member for Gains-borough will resist both Amendments.