Question 496. - Section 97 of the Bank Act protects a bank which pays over a deposit not exceeding $500 in pursuance of and in conformity to letters of administration or probate granted by certain courts. Has a bank the right to demand the lodgment of authenticated copies of the letters probate before payment? If so. is the case different where the deposit exceeds $500?

Answer. - The section referred to does not give the executor or administrator appointed by a foreign court the right to demand payment; it merely justifies and protects the bank in making the payment if it should be willing to do so. Under the circumstances, it is of course free to name any reasonable conditions, but apart from this it is clear from the terms of the section that the bank is not protected unless authenticated copies of the documents are lodged with it.

When the deposit exceeds $500, the section does not apply, and the ordinary rules of law prevail. The person seeking payment must produce letters of administration or probate or other sufficient authority, granted in the Province where the payment is to be made, and in this case the bank is not entitled as of right to retain the evidence produced.