Scottish inheritance law some questions and advice

[jilladams]

Just saw the other post about Scottish inheritance law, I never knew it was different and I'm sure neither my mum or dad knew either.

My father is on his last legs and will probably pass soon, certainly within the next few years at most.

His will leaves everything to my mum ( and visa versa) and myself and my brother are named as executors.

I have 3 siblings and I know 2 would not want anything ( as I wouldn't either) and would be just let everything go to my mum. Elder brother and sister are from dad's 1st marriage. Mum and dad got married in 1967 and had me and my other sister.

My elder sister is a piece of work though, I personally haven't spoken to her in almost 15 years after her behaviour to mum on her 70th (she wasn't invited to mum's 80th!) The only ones in contact with her are my elder brother and occasionally my dad. My other sister hasn't spoken to her in over 25 years now!

Knowing what she is like she will a: know that Scottish law is different and b: want her "cut" even if it means hurting mum financially...

From what I have read so far ( more resources to read would be great please), things like the house don't factor in and myself and siblings can reject their claims on his moveable estate.

Do my dad's pensions that will benefit mum at 50% of current monthly amount after his passing count as moveable estate?

Do things like furniture, cars, mobility scooters, heirlooms etc count as moveable estate?

Dad has about £100k in savings accounts in both his and mum's names, does that count as moveable estate as it is in both of their names? If it does what are the ramifications of putting it just into mum's name?

If my siblings and I reject out legal claim will this increase the amount my other sister would be entitled to? i.e. if we don't reject it there would be a 25% split of the moveable estate "pot" each but if we did she would receive 100% of the moveable estate "pot". If the latter is the case would there be any negative connotations of us accepting our "cut" and then gifting it back to mum?

What would be the best way forward to ensure that my mum benefits the greatest way after my dad passes? Ideally such that my dad's wishes everything goes to mum happens, but it looks like that can't happen.

Obviously I'm in Scotland as are mum and dad, does the fact my siblings all live in England affect anything?

Thanks

[Pezza54]

I am by no means an expert on Scottish inheritance law.
I have just read a short article "Intestacy in Scotland" at which.co.uk
Intestacy (when the deceased dies without a will) rules in Scotland are not the same as in England
However, you stated your father has made a will which leaves all of his estate to your mother
Do you know what the will states should your mother pass before your father?

I have read SEDERUNT's response to another thread about Legitim, the legal rights of children in the law of succession in Scotland. This thread was about a deceased mother's will (no surviving spouse) leaving the whole of her estate to one daughter, leaving out her other children. Under Scottish law the children were legally entitled to equal shares

In your case, if your father dies, one third of his moveable net estate should be divided between his children. One third of the moveable estate will pass to your mother in addition to 100% of the home.

For joint bank accounts in Scotland, when one of the account holder dies, the surviving account holder does not automatically become the sole account holder. The deceased's share of the account may become part of the moveable estate and the size of the share depends on the deceased's contribution to the account. Sounds complicated to work out

Moveable estate is everything that isn't property or land, so pension funds, furniture, heirlooms etc are moveable estate.

Your father is domiciled in Scotland, so his children living in England will make no difference

[sederunt]

Some extra info

Renouncing legitim does not increase the share of others, unless the renouncing occurs inter vivos (while the parent is still alive). Where there is a surviving spouse, legitim is ⅓ of the net moveables, so for one child out of four claiming, this would be 1/12 for that person. Mother would receive the remainder.

Regular pension payments for a surviving spouse are not part of the moveable estate

Furniture, cars, mobility scooters, heirlooms etc generally count as moveable estate but they are valued at market value and furniture has a very low value or zero market value. True heirlooms can be treated differently.

One way to reduce legitim entitlement is to reduce the amount of the moveable estate. A person can donate money to a spouse. It would then be removed from the person’s moveable estate.The difficulty is that the sequence of deaths can be uncertain. Also care costs can introduce deprivation of asset issues.

There is also the possibility of ‘artificial intestacy’ where the estate is less than ‘prior rights’ entitlement. This has been used to negate legitim claims. Might be something to read up on rather than I try to explain.

With elderly persons, there is also the added potential for the person in the future to lack capacity to make decisions.

[jilladams]

Just saw the other post about Scottish inheritance law, I never knew it was different and I'm sure neither my mum or dad knew either.

My father is on his last legs and will probably pass soon, certainly within the next few years at most.

His will leaves everything to my mum ( and visa versa) and myself and my brother are named as executors.

I have 3 siblings and I know 2 would not want anything ( as I wouldn't either) and would be just let everything go to my mum. Elder brother and sister are from dad's 1st marriage. Mum and dad got married in 1967 and had me and my other sister.

My elder sister is a piece of work though, I personally haven't spoken to her in almost 15 years after her behaviour to mum on her 70th (she wasn't invited to mum's 80th!) The only ones in contact with her are my elder brother and occasionally my dad. My other sister hasn't spoken to her in over 25 years now!

Knowing what she is like she will a: know that Scottish law is different slope game and b: want her "cut" even if it means hurting mum financially...

From what I have read so far ( more resources to read would be great please), things like the house don't factor in and myself and siblings can reject their claims on his moveable estate.

Do my dad's pensions that will benefit mum at 50% of current monthly amount after his passing count as moveable estate?

Do things like furniture, cars, mobility scooters, heirlooms etc count as moveable estate?

Dad has about £100k in savings accounts in both his and mum's names, does that count as moveable estate as it is in both of their names? If it does what are the ramifications of putting it just into mum's name?

If my siblings and I reject out legal claim will this increase the amount my other sister would be entitled to? i.e. if we don't reject it there would be a 25% split of the moveable estate "pot" each but if we did she would receive 100% of the moveable estate "pot". If the latter is the case would there be any negative connotations of us accepting our "cut" and then gifting it back to mum?

What would be the best way forward to ensure that my mum benefits the greatest way after my dad passes? Ideally such that my dad's wishes everything goes to mum happens, but it looks like that can't happen.

Obviously I'm in Scotland as are mum and dad, does the fact my siblings all live in England affect anything?

Thanks

Are there any tax implications for the inheritance in Scotland?

[sederunt]

There are inheritance tax thresholds, but the general rule is that where spouse exemption applies, then there is no inheritance tax liability.

However Legitim claims will use up IHT nil rate band allowance, and while this would not cause IHT to be payable (where not greater than £325k) one consequence is that the transferable nil rate band available to the second spouse’'s estate is accordingly reduced.