A Notice of Intended Distribution is a notice published in a newspaper telling the public that the Executor of an estate intends to distribute the estate property. Section 93 of the Succession Act provides a protection to an Executor who distributes the estate according to that Section. The protection is that the Executor will not be personally liable in respect of that distribution to any person who is an applicant of a family provision claim if the Executor is not on notice of that claim. Of course there are always particular provisos to keep in mind, including:
- the distribution is not made until at least 6 months after the death of the deceased, and;
- the legal representative has given notice, through the notice of intended distribution, that the legal representative intends to distribute the estate after the expiration of a specified time, and;
- the notices states the distribution will not take place earlier than 30 days after the notice is given, and;
- distribution is not made until the time specified in the notice has expired, and if legal representative does not have notice of any application nor intended application for a family provision order
Section 94 of the Succession Act enables the legal representative to immediately distribute the estate immediately to an eligible person who is substantially dependent on the deceased person to support the maintenance or education of the eligible person.