Probate in Jamaica for an Executor Living Overseas

Where the deceased left a valid Will naming an executor, the executor applies for probate in Jamaica. Where there is a Will but the named executor cannot or will not act, someone else may need to apply for administration with the Will annexed. Where a court abroad has already issued a grant, that grant may be resealed in Jamaica, but only if it came from a court in a Commonwealth country or a narrow class of British court sitting in a foreign country. A grant from an ordinary United States state court does not qualify, and a Jamaican grant is needed instead.

Which route fits turns on where the deceased had their permanent home, where any earlier grant was issued, whether the original Will can be produced and what was owned in Jamaica. The person appointed abroad does not automatically hold the same authority here. If a United States court is holding the original Will, the Jamaican application usually begins with a separate application to prove a copy. Read A Will Was Probated in the United States: What Happens to Jamaican Assets?.

An overseas executor can usually swear the court papers before an authorised person in their own country and send the originals to Jamaica. Whether a notary's seal, consular authentication, an apostille or some other certificate is needed depends on the document, the country and the body that will receive it. We give written signing instructions before any visit to a notary, so the papers are sworn once and correctly.

The Registrar examines the application and may raise requisitions. A requisition is a request to correct or explain something in the papers. It is not a refusal of probate. We answer it and the application goes on.

The grant is authority, not the end. The executor still has to collect and deal with the assets. Registered land goes through transmission at the National Land Agency before it can be passed to a beneficiary or sold. Each bank, securities registrar and insurer applies its own identification and release procedure once it sees the grant, and one package of papers does not satisfy all of them.

Most of the work can be coordinated from abroad. No attorney should promise that you will never have to attend.

There is no fixed probate period. An estate usually takes many months, and the time depends on how complete the papers are, the Registry's examination, any requisitions, the tax work and the transfer of each asset. See How Long Does Probate Take in Jamaica and What Does It Cost?.

The law that decides which foreign grants can be resealed is the Probates (Re-Sealing) Act.

Send us the Will, the death certificate and a note of what your aunt owned in Jamaica, and we will tell you which route the file takes and what you will need to sign where you are.