53(1)Subject to subsection (3), where a person dies wholly intestate or the executor named in a will refuses upon citation to prove the will, the administration of the property of the deceased may be committed by the Court to the spouse, to the next-of-kin or to the spouse of the next-of-kin, of the deceased as the Court considers proper, and where more than one person claim the administration as next-of-kin who are equal in degrees of kindred to the deceased, or where only one desires the administration as next-of-kin where there are more persons than one of equal kindred, the administration may be committed to such one or more of such next-of-kin as the Court considers proper.

53(2)Subject to subsection (3), where a person dies wholly intestate as to his property, or dies leaving a will affecting property but without having appointed an executor thereof or an executor willing and competent to take probate, and the persons entitled to administration, or a majority of such of them as are resident in the Province, request that another person be appointed to be the administrator of the property of the deceased, or of any part of it, the right that such persons possessed to have administration granted to them in respect of it belongs to that person.

53(3)Where a person dies wholly intestate as to his property or dies leaving a will affecting property but without having appointed an executor thereof willing and competent to take probate or the executor was at the time of the death of such person resident out of the Province, and it appears to the Court to be necessary or convenient by reason of insolvency of the estate of the deceased, or other special circumstances, to appoint some person to be the administrator of the property of the deceased or of any part of such property, other than the person who if this subsection had not been enacted would have been entitled to the grant of administration, it is not obligatory upon the Court to grant administration to the person who if this subsection had not been enacted would have been entitled to a grant thereof, but the Court may appoint such person as it considers proper upon his giving such security as it directs, and every such administration may be limited as the Court considers best.

53(4)A trust company authorized to do business in the Province may be appointed as administrator under subsection (2) or (3), either alone or jointly with another person.