Letter of Administration (Surat Kuasa Mentadbir) dan Probate
From my observation, most lawyers failed to file their LA and Probate petition according to the correct procedure i.e failure to file an affidavit to verify the petition as provided under Order 71 Rule 5(1) Rules of The High Court 1980. The procedure in filling the LA and Probate petition is set out in O.71 r 5(1) HCR 1980:
In Order 71 Rule 5(1) HCR stated that:
O. 71 r. 5 (1) Every application for a grant must be by petition in one of the forms in Form 168 and the petition must be verified by oath which must be contained in an affidavit sworn by the applicant, and supported by such other papers as the Registrar may require.
What happens is that most of the lawyers only filed the petition and at the end of the petition there is an endorsement verifying the petition signed by the petitioner. My stand is that, even though the endorsement is made under oath, but it is not an affidavit as required under O. 41 r.5(1) HCR 1980. So this mean their petition does not supported by an affidavit and therefore the petition is not completed. Most of the lawyers argued that what they were doing were the practice since long time ago and this is the practice in Perak High Court. Some of them even argued that since 20 years ago neither the Deputy Registrar nor the Senior Assistant Registrar has corrected them so it should be no problem. Some lawyers argued that the affidavit is no needed as they have verified the petitions in the endorsements.
One lawyer introduced himself as one of the Bar Committee stepped into my chambers and said “Sir, I don’t want to argue with you, just give me another date and I will file an affidavit as you requested”. I then told him “This is not requested by me, but it is requested under the High Court Rules”. So I gave him new date. So, just follow the rule and forget the incorrect practice. Will you?
