Order of appointment of head of the family

(1) When the petition is duly filed, the court may hold an inquiry to decide who shall hold the office of head of the family and shall upon considering the petition and documents accompanying it, appoint a person as the head of family and notify him to take oath that he shall discharge his duties diligently and faithfully and make a declaration stating:— (i) the name and status of the estate leaver, date on which and the place where he died; (ii) the name, status, age and capacity of the heirs, testamentary or legal, without excluding those who are known to have been conceived and the degree of kinship of the legal heirs; (iii) whether the estate leaver has left a will or a gift and , if so, the head of the family shall produce the original or a certified copy of the will or of the gift deed; (iv) whether the estate leaver was married and, whether there was an ante-nuptial agreement and if so, he shall produce a certified copy of the agreement; (v) where a party is subject to orphan’s jurisdiction, the names of persons who shall constitute the family council. The court may accept or reject the proposed names; (vi) whether there are assets to be collated and give the names of the conferees. The head of the family shall also give the names and addresses of the legatees and of the creditors; (vii) what are the assets of inheritance. (2) At the time of the head of the family makes the declaration, he shall produce the certified copy of the renunciation deed if any, and such other document as may be relevant to the case. (3) Where the head of the family makes a reference to any document in his declaration, he shall, whenever possible, give particulars in respect of date of the original document, place where drawn or registered and the number of registration with book number and page. (4) The declaration of the head of the family may be made by affidavit, copies of which shall be supplied to all the interested parties and may be accompanied by a list of assets and by documents.