A common area for error in dealing with intestate cases is using the correct title. There have been some more recent changes in the probate office which still have not been picked up by practitioners. One area is the move now away from the more outdated language for those who die not married. It is now not considered appropriate practice to refer to single men as “bachelors” or single women as “spinsters”. Instead the term “single person” is to be used across the board.

Another area related to this in intestate cases, is that it is now a title requirement to not only say that the person was “single” but that they never married or entered into a civil partnership and that they died without issue. I have included an example of a suggested title for a sister in the attached sample new form Oath of Administrator.

It should be noted that the Probate Office in their section for practitioners on the courts.ie website has set out a full title section, much like the title section of Mongey, which should be used by practitioners. I attach a link to the section of the website here. On this page, go to the “Title” tab

https://www.courts.ie/probate-intestacy-application

I set out my suggest Oath for a single person here