Scottish law and inheritance

minority

Just looking for information as my uncle was not very clear on it.

My grandad sadly died last week and I have been told by my uncle I was in the will for x amount but he then mentioned that since my mum passed away 2 year ago I would be able to claim this.

I assume from Googleing it something to do with the 2016 Scottish act of succession?

I feel bad taking money from my uncle but on the other side my aunties husband is money grabber and only ever dealt with my grandad if it was to his financial advantage.

I kind of have two question relating to the above:
- if I claim my mother share i assume I foreit my claim to what my grandad left me and it is include in the 3 way split (seem fair to me, assuming the final value is greater, I guess)

- does this act give me rights to other things in my grandad estate?
He has a watch which to me has sentimental value that i would like to see kept in the family but my aunties husband has all of a sudden became a watch collector.  I normally would not have an issue but my aunt has no blood descendents and it sadden me to think it would leave the family as it would be nice to have both my grandad watches to pass down.  

RIP grandad you were the best!

naedanger

minority said:

Just looking for information as my uncle was not very clear on it.

My grandad sadly died last week and I have been told by my uncle I was in the will for x amount but he then mentioned that since my mum passed away 2 year ago I would be able to claim this.

I assume from Googleing it something to do with the 2016 Scottish act of succession?

I feel bad taking money from my uncle but on the other side my aunties husband is money grabber and only ever dealt with my grandad if it was to his financial advantage.

I kind of have two question relating to the above:
- if I claim my mother share i assume I foreit my claim to what my grandad left me and it is include in the 3 way split (seem fair to me, assuming the final value is greater, I guess)

- does this act give me rights to other things in my grandad estate?
He has a watch which to me has sentimental value that i would like to see kept in the family but my aunties husband has all of a sudden became a watch collector.  I normally would not have an issue but my aunt has no blood descendents and it sadden me to think it would leave the family as it would be nice to have both my grandad watches to pass down.  

RIP grandad you were the best!

You need to read the will to see what you are entitled to under that. It could be written so that you do or do not inherit your mother's share. I believe (but am not completely certain) if it is silent on this point then (as she was a descendent of his) you would inherit her share assuming you are her only child. (If she had other children her share would be divided equally between her children or their descendents.) If you do inherit your mother's share under the Will I think it likely you will still inherit £x amount, but it could be written so that you don't.

So step 1 calculate what you would be entitled to under the will.

Alternatively you could claim your legal rights. How many children did your grandad have, and how many children did your mother have? Was your grandad married at his death? Also do you know roughly the value of the moveable estate, which is essentially the value of the estate excluding any property. If you claim your legal rights then you won't inherit anything under the Will.

minority

Hi thanks for the reply.

It is his solicitor that has mentioned this to my uncle.
I and my sister are talking about this and agree we would want to exercise our right due to our uncle but also we believe grandad would want my mum share to go to us.
My grandad wife died around 33 years ago so there only his 2 living children and my sister and I plus our children.

naedanger

So your legal rights would be 1/12th of his net moveable estate i.e. a 1/12th of everything excluding his house.

Whereas I suspect your entitlement under the will is likely to be much larger i.e. approximately 1/6th of the total estate (assuming your grandad left most of his estate to be divided equally amongst his children, with the share of any children who die before him to be shared equally by their children).

You could ask the solicitor for a copy of the will.

One option is to claim the maximum entitlement but then gift back to your uncle any amount you wish him to receive. That way anything you don't take only goes to him and is not shared with others e.g. with your aunty's husband.

Regarding the watch you could speak to the solicitor and explain it has sentimental value, and you would be willing to pay (with part of your share of the inheritance) more than its market value to get it. That way the solicitor will at least know you want it.