The Scottish Government has responded to a consultation on reformof Scottish succession law. We will shortly provideoverview of and comment on SG's response. We willlook at what it means for estate planning for family and loved ones as well as the 'direction of travel' for some parts of theinheritance rules. Rules that impact control over succession to key assets such as land and buildings or private/family business and investments.
Before we blog on the rules, we thought it would be interesting to share the results of a few survey questions posed by the Scottish Government about succession.
"We asked 100 people to name...." Well, Scottish Government asked via a surveyand received over 800 responses to the questions below. The responsesappear to give, apart from where dependent children are involved, a strong sense of support for the freedom to choose your beneficiaries in a will.
Should you be able to completely disinherit your spouse or civil partner?
63%......Yes
28%.......No
9%.........Unsure
Should you be able to completely disinherit your adult children?
79%.......Yes
15%........No
6%..........Unsure
Should you be able to completely disinherit your dependent children?
24%.........Yes
67%.........No
10%.........Unsure
Should you be able to completely disinherit your cohabitee?
73%.........Yes
15%.........No
13%.........Unsure
[some results with rounding up]
As the Scottish Government response document notes, the statistics in this form are unqualified by anyaccompanying comment and explanation. They provide a snapshot of views.We will look in more detail at matters in a follow up blog.
