Grant de bonis non meaning

In probate practice, a grant de bonis non (short for de bonis non administratis) is a further grant authorising a new personal representative to complete administration of a deceased’s estate where the original personal representatives (executor or administrator) have died or ceased to act and there is no continuing chain of representation. It is typically needed where the prior grant was letters of administration, or where the last surviving executor died intestate or without proving the will, so executorship does not pass to that person’s own executor. The grant is limited to the unadministered estate; it does not disturb distributions or acts properly completed under the earlier grant. It enables the new personal representative to collect remaining assets, pay outstanding debts and expenses, and distribute the residue. In England and Wales and Northern Ireland, the concept aligns with the statutory chain of representation (for example, under the Administration of Estates legislation and probate rules), and the expression is widely used in probate practice. In Ireland, letters of administration de bonis non are granted under the Succession Act 1965 and Probate Rules on similar principles. In Scotland, the equivalent outcome is achieved by appointing a successor executor (often an executor-dative) and, where required,...