Succession Bill introduced for non-contentious Commission proposals

A Scottish Government Bill to implement some of the Scottish Law Commission's proposed succession law reforms has been introduced into the Scottish Parliament.

Under the Succession (Scotland) Bill, spouse or civil partner named as beneficiary or appointed executor in a will, would be treated as having predeceased the testator if the marriage or civil partnership has since been ended by divorce or annulment, without express provision to the contrary. A survivorship destination in a property title would be treated in the same way.

The proposed reforms also include:

• establishing a process for the rectification of a will drafted by a person other than the testator, where a court is satisfied that the will fails to express accurately what was instructed;
• making clear that revoking a will does not revive an earlier will revoked by the subsequent will;
• providing for direct descendants of a named beneficiary to succeed if the beneficiary predeceases the testator;
• making further provision for where two or more people die simultaneously or in circumstances in which it is uncertain who survived whom;
• making that a person subject to the forfeiture rule will be treated as predeceasing the testator, and extending the relief that the court may grant;
• abolishing donation mortis causa (a customary mode of conditional gift in contemplation of death), but not other forms of conditional gift;
• closing a number of jurisdictional gaps to ensure that Scottish courts have jurisdiction where the applicable law is Scots law.

This will be the second bill to be considered for the new parliamentary process implementing Scottish Law Commission reports.

The more fundamental reforms of the law of succession, testate and intestate, also proposed by the Commission in its 2009 report will be put out for views in a Scottish Government consultation paper to be published shortly.

Click here to access the bill and related papers.