Order 56 FCT (Civil Procedure) Rules 2025
Order 56 of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2025 is about Grant of Probate or Administration in General. It contains the following rules:
- Where a person subject to the jurisdiction of the court dies,
all petitions for the granting of any letters of
administration of the estate of the deceased person, with or
without a Will attached, and for the granting of probate of
the Will of a deceased person, and all applications on other
matters connected, shall be made to the Probate Registrar
of the court.
- There shall be kept at the Probate Registry:
(a) Register of Wills.
(b) Register of letters of administrations.
(c) Register of grant of probate. - Any person who seeks to conduct a search into the register
of Wills in order to ascertain whether a deceased died
testate or as to whether Letters of Administration has been
issued or the process initiated regarding the deceased’s
estate, shall apply to the Probate Registrar with a copy of
the death certificate of the deceased. The Probate Registrar
may at his discretion request for further information or
documents before approving the search upon payment of
prescribed fees.
- No grant of Probate or Letters of Administration with Will
annexed shall be initiated within 14 days of the death of the
deceased and no grant of administration without Will
annexed shall be initiated within 21 days of the death. - In furtherance of any provisions under this Order and
Orders 57, 58, 59, 60, and 61, the Registrar shall administer
such forms as prescribed by this Rules or as he may deem
appropriate in circumstances not contemplated by the
Rules. - The Court may, where the circumstances of a case require,
on the death of a deceased person, or as soon after as may
be, appoint and authorize an officer of Court, or some
other fit person, to take possession of his property within
jurisdiction, or put it under seal, and keep it until it can be
dealt with according to law.
- (1) Without prejudice to any provisions of these Rules, any
person who is interested in a deceased’s estate may file a
notice to prohibit (caveat) with the Registrar forbidding
the prospective grant of probate or letters of
administration (without or with a Will attached) to any person in respect of a deceased’s estate which, if granted, will work to his prejudice or that of someone to whom he is a guardian, and upon such filing, the Probate Registrar shall abstain from taking any step to process any application for the grant of probate or letters of administration in respect of the estate indicated.
PROVIDED that the caveat shall remain in force for 6 months from the date on which it is entered and shall then cease to have effect, without prejudice to the entry of a further caveat or caveats.
(2) A notice to prohibit a grant of probate or administration
(without or with a Will attached) shall not affect a grant
made on the day on which the notice is filed.
(3) The Registrar shall maintain an index of caveats entered
in the registry and on receiving an application for a grant in
the Registry he shall cause the index to be searched and
shall notify the applicant in the event of a caveat having
been entered against the issue or sealing of a grant for
which application has been made.
(4) A caveator may be warned by the issue from the registry of a warning in a prescribed Form at the instance of a person interested (in this Rule called ‘the person warning’) which shall state his interest and, if he claims under a Will,
the date of the Will and shall require the caveator to give particulars of any contrary interest which he may have in the estate of the deceased and every warning or a copy of it shall be served on the caveator.
(5) A caveator who has not entered an appearance to a
warning may at any time withdraw his caveat by giving
notice at the registry and the caveat shall then cease to have effect, and if he has been warned, the caveator shall promptly give notice of withdrawal of the caveat to the person warning.
(6) A caveator who has an interest contrary to that of the person warning, may, within 8 days of service of the warning upon him inclusive of the day of such service, enter an appearance in the registry by filing prescribed Form, accompanied with an affidavit disclosing the nature of his interest and promptly serve on the person warning,
sealed with the seal of the registry.
(7) A caveator who has no interest contrary to that of the
person warning, but wishing to show cause against the
sealing of a grant to that person, may, within 8 days of
service of the warning upon him inclusive of the day of
such service, issue and apply for directions, which shall be
returnable before the Registrar.
(8) If the time limited for appearance has expired and the
caveator has not entered an appearance, the person
warning may file in the registry an affidavit showing that
the warning was duly served and that he has not received
application for directions under sub-rule (7), and
thereupon the caveat shall cease to have effect.
(9) Upon the commencement of a probate action, the
Registrar shall, for each caveat then in force (other than a
caveat entered by the claimant), give to the caveator notice
of the commencement of the action, and on subsequent
entry of a caveat at any time when the action is pending,
shall likewise notify the caveator of the existence of the
action.
- Where a person other than the person named as executor or
administrator, or an officer of the Court or person
authorized by the Court, takes possession of and
administers or deals with the property of a deceased
person, he shall, besides other liabilities he may incur, be
liable to a fine as the Court may order. - (1) An applicant for a grant of probate or letters of
administration shall file in the Court a true declaration of
all the personal and real properties of the deceased and
their value.
(2) For purposes of the fees payable on probate and such
letters of administration, the value of the property for
which the grant is made shall be deemed not to include –
(a) Gratuity payable by the Federal or State
Government of a State, or the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, to the estate of a person formerly employed by it or a Statutory Corporation;
(b) A sum of money payable to an estate from a Provident Fund or Pension Fund established under any enactment.
- (1) Subject to Rule 11(4) of this Order, an applicant for a
grant may apply through a legal practitioner at the probate registry.
(2) A legal practitioner through whom an application for a
grant is made shall:
(i). Append a seal to the application.
(ii). Indicate a telephone number, email address and a business address.
(3) Where an applicant desires for a legal practitioner,
through whom he applied, to receive the instruments of
grant on his behalf when issued, the applicant shall issue a
letter of authority to that effect which shall be produced to
the Registrar along with the application and a clause of
which shall be an indemnity in favour of the Registrar
against liability for acting on the letter of authority.
- (1) An applicant for a grant may apply in person at the
probate registry.
(2) A personal applicant may not apply through an agent,
whether paid or unpaid and may not be represented by any
person acting or appearing to act as his adviser.
(3) No personal application shall be received or proceeded
with where –
(a) It becomes necessary to bring the matter before the
Court on motion or by action;
(b) An application has already been made by a legal
practitioner on behalf of the applicant and has not been
withdrawn; or
(c) The registrar directs otherwise.
(4)Where a personal applicant is not able to appear in
person to meet the requirements of signing necessary processes before the Registrar or taking necessary oaths
before the commissioner for oaths, by reason only that the
applicant is resident outside Nigeria, upon an application
made by a legal practitioner appointed by the applicant, at
full cost to the applicant at a rate the Registrar may
determine from time to time, such forms may be forwarded
to the applicant at an address provided by him through
registered courier company and the necessary signatures
appended and oaths taken before a notary public in that
jurisdiction, who shall notarize all the processes and further
accompany them with a written affirmation by the notary
public that the applicant signed the forms and took the oath
before him, after which the processes are forwarded to the
Probate Registrar through registered courier company.
(5) A personal applicant shall supply all information
necessary to enable the papers leading to the grant to be
prepared in the registry or may himself prepare such
papers and lodge them unsworn, provided all prescribed
fees are paid.
- A personal applicant shall produce the death certificate of
the deceased or such other evidence of the death as the
Registrar may approve. - Except the Registrar directs, every oath, affidavit or
guarantee required of a personal applicant shall be sworn
or executed by all the deponents or sureties before an
authorized officer of Court. - (1) An application for a grant shall be supported by an
affidavit sworn by the applicant and by such other
documents as the Registrar may require.
(2) Unless otherwise directed by a Registrar, the oath shall
state where the deceased died domiciled. - Where it is necessary to describe the deceased in a grant by
some name in addition to his true name, the applicant shall
state in the affidavit the true name of the deceased along with such other name(s) and shall depose that some part of the estate, specifying it, was held in the other name(s) or as to any other reason that there may be for the inclusion of the other name in the grant.
- (1) Where there are additional asset(s) not included in the
Letters of Administration issued prior, an application for
supplementary letters of administration could be made to
the Registrar by the administrators of the grant or their legal
representative.
(2) An application may be made to the Registrar by the
executor of estate for the inclusion of any property or asset
not mentioned in the Will of the testator or any additional
asset discovered after probate was granted to be included in
the estate of the testator.
(3) The provisions of Rule 9 shall apply to sub rule (1) and
(2) of this Rule as it relates to the requirement for a true
declaration and valuation of properties and assets affected
by this rule.
- (1) Every person to whom a grant of probate or letters of
administration has or have been made and every
administrator appointed by the Court shall, if called upon
by the Court, file in Court the account of his administration
and shall thereafter file such further periodic accounts as
the Court may direct until the completion of the
administration.
(2) An executor or administrator who fails within any such
period to file his accounts as specified shall be liable to such
penalty not less than N1,000.00 as a Court may deem fit to
impose, and every such fine shall, on non-payment, be
enforceable by distress and where distress is insufficient, by
imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months.
(3) Where an account is filed in Court under this Rule, the
Court shall scrutinize the account and if it appears to the
Court that by reason of improper or unjustifiable entries or
that the account is not a full and proper account, the Court
may give written notice to the person filing the account to remedy such defects within such time as the Court may
deem reasonable for the purpose, and on failure to remedy
such defects within such time, the person who filed such
defective account shall be taken to have failed to file an
account within the meaning of this Rule, and proceedings
may be taken against that person accordingly.
(4) A Court may, on the motion of an interested party, or on
its own, summon any executor or administrator failing to
file account, to show cause why he should not be punished.
(5) A Court may for good cause shown extend the time for
such filing of accounts.
(6) An executor or administrator who has been granted an
extension of time to file such accounts and who fails within
such extended time to file such accounts, shall be liable to
the penalty stated above and the procedure for bringing
him before the Court shall be invoked.
(7) In an appropriate form, the Registrar shall bring to the
notice of the Court the fact that any executor or
administrator has failed to file his accounts as required by
this Rule.
(8) The accounts shall be open, free of charge to the
inspection of all persons satisfying the Registrar that they
are interested in the administration.
(9) In this rule, the word “accounts” includes an inventory,
an account of the administration, the vouchers in hands of
the executor or administrator, and an affidavit in
verification.
- (1) The duties and powers of a Court by this Order and
Orders , 57, 58 and 59, shall be undertaken by the Registrar
on behalf of the Court subject to any directions which the
Chief Judge may give, but a Court shall have power, either
on its own or on the application of an interested person, to
review any action undertaken by the Registrar and on such
review a Court shall have power to cancel anything which
may have been done by the Registrar or make such order as
may be just in the circumstances.
(2) A Court may refuse to entertain an application under this Rule where it considers that there was an unreasonable delay by the applicant in making his application.
- Where an application for grant of probate or letters of
administration has been made and a file opened for that
purpose but, either due to failure of the applicants to meet
requirements imposed or abandonment of the application
by the applicant or for any other fault attributable to the
applicant, the grant is not made within 6 months of the date
of commencement, the application shall lapse, and where
the applicant desires to pursue the grant thereafter, he shall
commence the process afresh, provided that the period
during which a publication as required under this Rules is
made or any delay occasioned by any official step taken by
the probate registry shall not be taken into account in
computing the 6 months. - Where it appears that the Federal Capital Territory, is or
may be beneficially interested in the estate of a deceased
person, notice of intended application for a grant shall be
given by the applicant to the Attorney- General of the
Federation, and the Registrar may direct that no grant shall
issue within a specified time after the notice has been given.
- (1) An application for the resealing of probate or letters of
administration granted by the Court of a place not within
the Federal Capital Territory, shall be made by the person to
whom the grant was made or, subject to Rule 11(4) of this
Order, by a legal practitioner authorized to apply on his
behalf.
(2) On any such application –
(a) an affidavit shall be lodged as if the application were
one for a grant in the Federal Capital Territory;
(b) The application shall be advertised in such manner as
the Registrar may direct and shall be supported by an oath
sworn by the person making the application.
(3) On an application for the resealing of such a grant the
Registrar shall not require sureties except where it appears
to him that there are special circumstances making it
desirable to require sureties.
(4) Except by leave of the Registrar, no grant shall be
resealed unless it was made to such a person mentioned in
the Probate or Letters of Administration sought to be
resealed.
(5) No limited or temporary grant shall be resealed except
by leave of the Registrar.
(6) A grant lodged for resealing shall include a copy of any
Will or letters of administration to which the grant relates or
shall be accompanied by a copy of it certified as correct by or
under the authority of the Court by which the grant was
made.
(7) Upon receipt of an application for resealing; the
Registrar shall send notice of the application to the Court
which made the grant, at a cost to be borne by the applicant,
and if after 21 days no adverse response is received
regarding the authenticity of the grant, he may proceed to
process the application.
(8) Where notice is received in the Registry from outside the
Federal Capital Territory, of the resealing of a grant made in
the Federal Capital Territory, notice of any amendment or
revocation of the grant shall be sent to the Court by which it
was resealed.
- (1) A grant of probate or letters of administration may be
revoked by the Probate Registrar for any of the following
reasons:
(a) the proceedings to obtain the grant were defective in
substance; or
(b) the grant was obtained fraudulently by making a false
claim, or by concealing from the Court something
material to the application; or
(c) the grant was obtained by means of an untrue
allegation of a fact essential in point of law to justify the
grant, though such allegation was made in ignorance or inadvertently; or
(d) the grant has become useless and inoperative through circumstances; or
(e) the person to whom the grant was made has willfully and without reasonable cause omitted to exhibit an inventory or account as necessary to assist the probate registry, or has exhibited an inventory or account which is untrue in a material respect.
(2) Where the Registrar is satisfied that a grant should be
revoked, he may make an order accordingly, but in special
circumstances, no grant shall be revoked under this Rule
except on the application or with the consent of the person
to whom the grant was made.
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