Need legal advice Call us now
In Scotland, a surviving spouse/civil partner or children can make a claim on the estate of a deceased person using their Legal Rights. So if like actor Michael Douglas, whose father Kirk Douglas chose charity over his son when deciding how to divide up his £60million fortune, you think you have been short-changed, then you can make a claim.
A child, even if he or she is not named as a beneficiary in the Will, can always claim his or her "Legal Rights" in a deceased parent's estate.
However, if a person claims their Legal Rights, then they forfeit whatever legacy is left to them in the Will. In other words, a person cannot claim their Legal Rights and receive their legacy under the Will. They can’t have their cake and eat it, they must decide to receive one or the other.
Legal Rights are calculated according to the value of the moveable estate (everything except land or buildings) of the deceased person after the payment of funeral expenses and any outstanding debts (not including heritable debts, such as mortgages). So this means a child or spouse can often claim against bank accounts, savings, personal belongings, cars, shares and business assets.
If a person is survived by both their spouse/civil partner and children, then the spouse/civil partner can claim a sum of money equal to one-third of the moveable estate and the children, equally amongst them, can claim another one-third of the value of the moveable estate. In other words, if there are two children, each has the right to claim one-sixth of the value of the moveable estate. In the event of any child predeceasing the deceased and leaving children of their own (i.e. grandchildren) then these children would be entitled to claim Legal Rights in place of their predeceasing parent.
As well as representing children who wish to make a claim in a parent's estate, Macnabs also act for parents of estranged children who are looking, during lifetime, to undertake planning so as to reduce the value of any potential claim on their death by a child. If you are in a similar situation please get in touch to see how we can help.
