Section 94 — Property (Relationships) Act 1976: Incidence of orders against personal representative of spouse or partner

94 Incidence of orders against personal representative of spouse or partner (1) This section applies when— (a) proceedings are commenced after the death of 1 of the spouses or partners; and (b) the Court makes an order under this Act against the personal representative of the deceased spouse or partner. (2) The incidence of any order made under this Act by the Court against the personal representative of a deceased spouse or partner falls rateably upon such part of the estate of the deceased as consists of relationship property. (3) However, the Court may order that the incidence of the order— (a) falls rateably on the whole estate of the deceased; or (b) falls on any specified portion of the estate or on any specified property. (4) Where the Court makes any order under subsection (3) ,— (a) the Court has power to exonerate any part of the estate of the deceased from the incidence of the order made under this Act, after hearing such of the parties who may be affected by the exoneration as the Court thinks necessary, and may for that purpose direct any personal representative to represent, or appoint any person to represent, any such party: (b) the Court has power at any time to fix a periodical payment or lump sum to be paid by any beneficiary in the estate of the deceased to represent, or in commutation of, any liability under the order that falls upon the portion of the estate in which he or she is interested, and to exonerate that portion from further liability and to direct in what manner the payment is to be secured. (5) For the purposes of subsections (2) to (4) , in cases where the authority of the Court does not extend and cannot directly or indirectly be made to extend to the whole estate, the estate of the deceased includes only so much of it as is subject to the authority of the Court. (6) Where the Court makes any order under this Act against the personal representative of a deceased spouse or partner (other than an order made under section 27 or section 28 ), the property comprised in that order does not form part of the estate of the deceased for the purposes of the Law Reform (Testamentary Promises) Act 1949 or the Family Protection Act 1955 . Sections 55 to 57 were repealed, and new Part 8 (comprising sections 55 to 95) and Part 9 (comprising sections 96 to 99) were inserted, as from 1 February 2002, by section 61 Property (Relationships) Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 5). See Part 9 of this Act as to the transitional and saving provisions. The heading to section 94 was amended, as from 26 April 2005, by section 3(2) Property (Relationships) Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 19) by substituting the word “ partner ” for the words “ de facto partner ” . Subsection (1) was amended, as from 26 April 2005, by section 3(2) Property (Relationships) Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 19) by substituting the word “ partner ” for the words “ de facto partner ” . Subsection (1)(a) was amended, as from 26 April 2005, by section 3(1) Property (Relationships) Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 19) by substituting the word “ partners ” for the words “ de facto partners ” . Subsections (2) and (6) were amended, as from 26 April 2005, by section 3(2) Property (Relationships) Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 19) by substituting the word “ partner ” for the words “ de facto partner ” .