Region

Jurisdiction

Regulator

2021-05-13

Administration of Small Estates (Amendment) Act, 2021

The Legislature of the Virgin Islands enacted this amendment to update the Administration of Small Estates Act by raising the small estate threshold to twenty-five thousand dollars and specifying Virgin Islands domicile. The legislation also increases a related administrative fee to twenty-five dollars and replaces Section 8 to impose fines up to five thousand dollars or imprisonment for up to twelve months on individuals who knowingly submit false statements to the Registrar. The Governor will determine the commencement date through a Gazette proclamation, bringing these procedural and financial updates into force across the jurisdiction.

British Virgin Islands

British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission

1 No. 10 of 2021 VIRGIN ISLANDS ADMINISTRATION OF SMALL ESTATES (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2021 ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS Section 1…Short title and commencement. 2…Section 2 amended. 3…Section 3 amended. 4…Section 7 amended. 5…Section 8 repealed and substituted.

2 No. 10 of 2021 Administration of Small Estates Virgin (Amendment) Act, 2021 Islands I Assent (Sgd.) John J. Rankin, CMG Governor. 7 th May, 2021 VIRGIN ISLANDS No. 10 of 2021 An Act to amend the Administration of Small Estates Act (Cap. 4) and to provide for other matters connected therewith. [Gazetted 13th May, 2021] ENACTED by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands as follows:

(1) This Act may be cited as the Administration of Small Estates (Amendment) Act, 2021. (2) This Act shall come into force on such date as the Governor may, by Proclamation published in the Gazette, appoint.
Section 2 of the Administration of Small Estates Act (hereinafter referred to as “the principal Act”) is amended in the definition of “small estate” by deleting the words “two hundred and forty dollars” and substituting the words “twenty-five thousand dollars”.
Section 3 of the principal Act is amended in subsection (1) by inserting after the words “where a person”, the words “domiciled in the Virgin Islands”.
Section 7 of the principal Act is amended by deleting the words “one dollar and twenty cents” and substituting the words “twenty-five dollars”.
Section 8 of the principal Act is repealed and substituted as follows: Short title and commencement. Section 2 amended. Cap. 4. Section 3 amended. Section 7 amended. Section 8 repealed and substituted.

3 “8. Any person who, for the purpose of deriving the benefit conferred by this Act, knowingly makes to the Registrar any statement which is false in any material particular, commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months.”. Passed by the House of Assembly this 22nd day of April, 2021. (Sgd.) Julian Willock, Speaker. (Sgd.) Phyllis Evans, Clerk of the House of Assembly.