39. Time within which application must be made. (1) Except as provided by section 42, an application under section 38 shall not, without the permission of the court, be made after the end of the period of six months from the date on which representation in regard to the estate of the deceased is first taken out; except that where letters of administration are revoked and probate is granted, time begins to run from the date of the grant of probate. (2) Sections 38 and 42 shall not render the personal representatives of the deceased liable for having distributed any part of the estate of the deceased after the expiration of the period of six months on the ground that they ought to have taken into account the possibility that the court might permit an application under this Act after the end of that period, but this subsection shall be without prejudice to any power to recover any part of the estate so distributed arising by virtue of the making of an order under this Act. 40. Effect and form of an order for maintenance. (1) Where an order is made under section 38, then, for all purposes, the will shall have effect, and shall be deemed to have had effect, as from the deceased’s death, subject to such variations as may be specified in the order for the purpose of giving effect to the provision for maintenance made in the order. (2) Any order under section 38 providing for maintenance by way of periodical payments may provide for payments of a specified amount, or for payments equal to the whole or part of the income of the net estate or of the income of any part to be set aside or appropriated under this Act of the net estate, or may provide for the amount of the payments or any of them to be determined in any other way the court thinks fit. (3) The court may give such consequential directions as it thinks fit for the purpose of giving effect to an order made under this Act, but no larger part of the net estate shall be set aside or appropriated to answer by its income the provision for maintenance made by the order than such a part as, at the date of the order, is sufficient to produce by its income the amount of the provision.