Bonnie Scotland

A recent lecture for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in Glasgow entitled ‘Estate planning inheritance tax and probate’ prompted me to look at areas in which laws in Scotland differ from those in England and Wales.

It is well known that in general terms inheritance tax rates exemptions and reliefs apply on equal terms throughout the UK.

This applies also to domicile status as is confirmed by ITEPA 2003 s 721(3) which reads:

‘Any reference to being domiciled in the UK is to be read as a reference to being domiciled in any part [my emphasis] of the UK.’

But what of the non-tax position where the two systems differ?

For example under the Scottish system of confirmation (the equivalent of probate which applies in England and Wales) the spouse and children of a deceased person who died domiciled in Scotland...