Wills in Scotland

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We are incrementally developing a new set of content on Scottish private client law for Scottish practitioners. The content will provide an essential resource for Scottish practitioners, as well as practitioners in England and Wales with clients who need advice on cross-border issues.

Scottish law governing the validity of Wills is a combination of statutory law and common law. The main statutory provisions are found in:

  1. •

    Age of Legal Capacity (Scotland) Act 1991

  2. •

    Requirements of Writing (Scotland) Act 1995

  3. •

    Trusts (Scotland) Act 1961

  4. •

    Succession (Scotland) Act 2016

  5. •

    Trusts and Succession (Scotland) Act 2024

The experts and market standard

The scope and content of the Wills in Scotland sub-topic is being developed in collaboration with leading experts in Scottish private client practice, including:

  1. •

    Dale Ross of Blackadders

  2. •

    David Cobb of AM Advocates

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This week’s edition of Private Client weekly highlights includes: (1) the case of David Peace, in which the High Court confirmed that the beneficiaries could agree to waive the forfeiture rule following Mr Peace’s assisted death; (2) the Court of Protection case of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council v A, in which the court found that an elderly dementia sufferer was moved from Spain to Wales unlawfully and continued to have habitual residence in Spain; (3) Mudan v Revenue and Customs Commissioners, in which the Court of Appeal confirmed the FTT and UT decisions that property requiring significant renovations should still be treated as residential property for SDLT purposes; (4) Khatun v Hasan, in which the Chancery Division held that the defendants failed to establish on the balance of probabilities that the disputed Will was genuine; and (5) Haworth v HMRC, in which The Court of Appeal dismissed the taxpayers’ appeal and upheld the decisions of the FTT and UT that the place of effective management of certain family trusts was in the UK, and not Mauritius.

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The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) reports on HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) probate service developments as of June 2025. HMCTS data for April 2025 indicates that although caseloads have stabilised at approximately 35,000 cases as of 31 May 2025, digital grant applications are now processed in 4.9 weeks compared to 12.3 weeks for paper applications. Service enhancements include improved case ownership by support officers, the continued availability of surgery appointments for complex cases, streamlined phone support through merged lines, and targeted improvements in the scanning process to reduce document errors. The update also notes recent Law Commission recommendations from May 2025 proposing the acceptance of electronic Wills and signatures—however, implementation remains the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice policy teams, and HMCTS is monitoring these potential changes.

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