Law Society welcomes Bill modernising trusts law

The Law Society of Scotland has welcomed the introduction of a Bill aimed at consolidating and modernising Scottish law around trusts and making limited changes to the law of intestate succession.

The long-awaited Trusts and Succession (Scotland) Bill, was introduced in the Scottish Parliament on 22 November, taking forward recommendations made by the Scottish Law Commission (SLC) in 2014 in connection with trust law reform and following the Scottish Government’s Consultation on the Law of Succession in 2015.

Alan Barr, Convener of the Law Society of Scotland’s Trust and Succession Law Committee, said: “The key legislation surrounding the important area of trust law is over one hundred years old and in urgent need of reform, if Scotland is to keep pace with financial and investment sectors on an international stage.

“We anticipate that the new Bill will help to modernise the law around trusts, allowing for more agile and creative commercial solutions to funding models and eliminating the current competitive disadvantage in Scots law.

“We are interested to note the provisions on succession law reform, committed to by the Scottish Government in response to the 2015 consultation. While limited in their terms, they represent a significant change to the existing law around intestacy. We hope to see further progress on wider reform of succession law in early course.

“We look forward to reviewing the Bill and commenting more fully in due course.”

Read the Scottish Law Commission’s 2014 Report on Trust Law.

Find out more about the Bill on the Scottish Parliament website.