Scotland inheritance query

[4mogirl]

Hello, was reading another thread and got me thinking...

It said that in Scotland children can’t be written out of a will.

Hypothetical situation- there was someone making a will, in Scotland, and had 3 children. Planned to leave things, ( money/house) to 2 of the children but not the third, because they have been NC for years, is this possible?

How would this be settled after the persons death? Would the will be honoured or could the third child (that isn’t on the will) contest it?

Thank you.

Broadly speaking, in Scotland a child is entitled to a minimum share of the estate whether or not they are mentioned in the will. How much depends on whether the deceased is married at time of death - if there are 3 children then the minimum inheritance is 1/6 each if there is no spouse, 1/9 if there is a spouse.

Nobody forces a NC adult child to demand their rights - they might prefer to walk away. If the child is a minor then their guardians are probably obliged to claim on their behalf.

What I don’t know is what the executor is meant to do in this cricumstance. Go ahead as per the will and wait for a claim? Contact the missing child and ask what they want to do?

Legal rights at present only apply to moveable estate eg money ,shares and not to heritable property eg the house
The executor has to contact the left out beneficiary and ask if he wants to claim his legal rights