Do you need a second Will
Many of our clients have assets that are abroad under English law. We commonly
have to deal with holiday homes in France, Spain, or Portugal, or inherited
property in commonwealth countries, like Australia or New Zealand, and
occasionally somewhere more exotic like the Bahamas. But it can come as a
surprise to clients to learn that Scots law is also quite different to English law,
particularly in relation to inheritance and property. So that property in Scotland
could be just as exotic (in legal terms at least) when preparing your Will.
An understanding of the legal system that applies where your property is held will
help you work out how that property will treated for inheritance. The common
law legal system we have in England & Wales has been adopted by many of our
commonwealth cousins and the Republic of Ireland for example, which tend to
allow a great deal of freedom: as the cliché goes; “The English can leave their
property to the cat’s home”, and indeed, sometimes our clients do.
The civil law systems which govern much of continental Europe (and Scotland)
however, generally treat property or immoveables (hence “immobilier” in French
or “immobiliare” in Italian) in a particular way for inheritance. The general civil law
principle is one of forced heirship: that is, regardless of what they might like to do,
a person can be forced to leave certain property to certain inheritors, commonly
their spouse and children.
If you do have property abroad you should ask yourself whe ѡ