Who is entitled to see a will after death in Scotland depends largely on what stage in the estate administration someone is wishing to see a will.
Estate administration can broadly be split into two stages - before and after the grant of confirmation. Confirmation is a legal document granted by the court which gives the executor(s) title to in-gather the assets in the estate.
Before confirmation is granted: Who can see the will?
Before confirmation is granted the only person who is entitled to see a will is the executor. The executor is the person appointed in the will to deal with the administration of the estate. It is, however, good practice to allow the residuary beneficiaries to see a copy of the will. Residuary beneficiaries are those who are entitled to receive a share of the estate rather than just a cash sum or item. The residuary beneficiaries will be entitled to a copy of the estate accounts which will contain much of the information held in the will.
Although the spouse and children are not entitled to see a copy of the will prior to confirmation being granted, the executor will need to inform them of their entitlement under the will so they can decide if they wish to claim their legal rights.
It is important to note that if the deceased person or their executor decides to register the will with the Registers of Scotland then it will be public document. This means that from the point of registration onwards anyone can request a copy of the will for a small administration cost.
Contesting a will
If you wish to contest a will prior to confirmation being granted and do not have access to a copy of the will, you will need an order from the court for it to be disclosed to you. You can find out more about contesting a will here.
After confirmation is granted: Who can see the will?
Once confirmation has been granted and the will is registered with the court then it becomes a public document. This means that anyone can contact the relevant court and request a copy of the will for a small administration cost.
Some estates do not require the grant of confirmation. For example, low value estates often do not require confirmation as the asset holders will be willing to release small sums without confirmation. In these cases, if someone who is not the executor wishes to see the will then they would need to raise legal action to request it. They would only be able to do this if they had reasonable grounds to do so e.g. they believed the executor was not giving effect to the provisions in the will and they were due to benefit.
If you wish to obtain a copy of someone's will or wish to limit access to your own will, there are steps which can be taken. If you wish to discuss these steps, we recommend contacting one of our experts.
