Vol. 456 No. 7
35 Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the current position in relation to the payment of cattle and sheep headage payments and premia to the next of kin of farmers who die; and the changes, if any, in the regulations in relation to these payments. [12905/95]
The procedures in relation to payment of cattle and sheep headage and premia payments to the next of kin of farmers who die are as follows: (1) If a solicitor informs my Department that only one person is the beneficiary of the deceased farmer's will, then that person will be paid any outstanding headage or premia claimed by the deceased farmer and can claim and be paid headage and premia in the future pending the taking out of probate on the will. (2) The same procedure is applied where the deceased farmer has died without making a will and where a solicitor informs my Department that only one person is a beneficiary of his or her estate in Irish law. (3) Where the deceased farmer leaves the holding to more than one beneficiary or dies intestate and where the solicitor involved tells my Department that a number of persons are beneficiaries of the deceased person's estate, my Department will pay outstanding headage or premia jointly to all those beneficiaries or to any one beneficiary provided all the beneficiaries consent to the nomination of that one person as the payee. Likewise, all the beneficiaries or one person nominated by them all can claim and be paid headage and premia in the future. (4) In disputed cases where executors of wills, usually solicitors, name to my Department the beneficiaries who, in their opinion, are entitled to receive the headage and premia payments, my Department pays any premia or headage claimed by the deceased farmers or by the persons nominated by the executors as the successors of such deceased farmers to those named persons. Such payment, however, is subject to the executors indemnifying my Department against any possible claims from any other possible beneficiaries.
