We act in an estate in which one of the residuary beneficiaries named in the will predeceased the testator, leaving issue. The will contains a per stirpes clause.
Beneficiary had 5 children, 2 of whom predeceased and 1 postdeceased. One of the predeceased children potentially has children of their own, who would also take per stirpes. Executor is trying to establish the shares in which the issue will take and therefore needs death certificates for all those who predeceased the testator.
As far as I know all the deaths other than the testator were in Jamaica. Death certificates could cost several hundred to obtain and the estate is relatively modest. Would the cost of obtaining the death certificates come out of the residue as a whole or just out of that beneficiary’s share? My instinct is that it’s the latter as it’s to do with proving who the correct beneficiaries are, and can be analogous to the costs of a specific legacy being paid by the legatee rather than the residue.