Frank Fahey (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Part 10 of the Bill amends the Succession Act 1965. Section 70 amends section 3(1) of the Act by deleting the words "in good faith". The amendment arises from a recommendation of the Law Reform Commission in its 2003 report on land law and conveyancing law. The report states that the requirement that a purchaser act in good faith in the context of the Succession Act contradicts many of the provisions of the Act and goes further than is necessary in placing an excessive burden on the purchaser. The amendment seeks to implement the recommendation of the report by deleting the term "in good faith" from the definition of "purchaser".

Section 71 of the Bill amends section 5 of the Succession Act, which deals with the situation where two persons die, or are presumed by law to die, simultaneously. The term to describe the deceased persons in these circumstances is "commorientes". There can be a difficulty where the commorientes, immediately before their death, held property as joint tenants. This would happen, for instance, where a husband and wife who owned their house as joint tenants were killed in the same car crash. Normally, where one of the joint tenants dies, the property goes directly to the other joint tenant or joint tenants and, crucially, does not form part of the estate of the deceased. Where both die simultaneously, however, that cannot happen. There is uncertainty at present in the law as to what then should happen to the joint property. The Bill solves this by adding a new subsection (2) to section 5 of the Succession Act to provide that, where two or more people immediately prior to their deaths held property as joint tenants and they died or were deemed to have died simultaneously, the joint tenancy will on their deaths be deemed to have become a tenancy in common in equal shares. Subsection (3) provides that the equal share will form part of the estate of the deceased in each case.

I can inform the House that provisions are also being developed on a range of other matters that include provisions for anonymity of certain participants in civil proceedings; the order of precedence of judges; a possible increase in the numbers of judges; visitation of wards of court; and banking arrangements for the collection of fines. It is the intention that these too will be included in the Bill on Committee Stage. Apart from those that I have specifically mentioned, there is also the possibility that other matters suitable for inclusion in this Bill will come on stream as it proceeds through the House, and l can assure Deputies that they will be kept informed as to what other material may be brought forward by way of appropriate amendments.

In conclusion, I remind the House of the Government's commitment to quality regulation. This Bill epitomises that commitment, tackling as it does a wide range of areas where change in the law is necessary or desirable in the interests of improving how the law operates and of removing unnecessary obstacles. I commend the Bill to the House.

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