Property inherited by grandchild in Scotland

luggy64

I am buying my council house and grandson is providing funding for this. I have 3 children but in event of my death want to ensure that the property is inherited solely by my grandson who provided the capital. Is it sufficient to stipulate this wish in my will or do I need additional supporting arrangements. I live in Scotland

Owain_Moneysaver

In Scottish law legitim is the right of children to inherit certain parts of the estate regardless of the provisions of any will. Any spouse or civil partner also has the right to inherit (jus relicti / jus relictae) certain parts of the estate.

It may be that if your grandson's funding is recorded as a loan the loan would be repaid to him from the estate before paying out to other beneficiaries.

You should obtain specific legal advise from a solicitor experienced in inheritance law.

luggy64

Thankyou, I did think there would be more than a will required. I was confused by the movable and heritable aspects of this as had interpreted that heritable property could be viewed as separate from movable property and bequeathed to anyone. Realising that offspring had prior legal claim to movable property could find no real info on heritable property in scotland

TBagpuss

The simplest way is likely to be to treat the money your grandson is provided as loan, get a legal charge drawn up stipulating that the money is payable onbly on your death. that wya, the debt will be a cahrge on your estate so should be paid before any assets are distributed. If the charge is secured upon your house it would also ensure that your grandson gets his money back first, before any other creditors get in!

You may want to include provisions to allow you to sell the house and move if you want to in future, and it would definitely be sensible to speak to a solicitor to make sure that everything is done correctly to protect you and your grandson (if the money is expressed as being a loan, you need to ensure that the documens make clear it is not repayable until your death, to protect you in the event your grandson got into finacial difficulties or if he and you had a falling out.

All that said, why do you want to buy? Do you have funds available to vcover the costs of any repairs and upkeep to the property? If you are a secure council tenant you may be better off remaining as a tenant.