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Legal terminology in Scotland can sometimes be difficult to comprehend if you have never been exposed to it. The language surrounding Will making is no exception to this. The Will itself can be divided into different gifts, depending on how the Will maker wants to distribute their estate. Gifts in a Will can either be specific, pecuniary or residual. If you are writing a Will and are confused about the distinction between these gifts, the team at McLennan Adam Davis makes writing your Will simple. Contact our knowledgeable team today to get started.
Specific gifts are gifts of a particular item or group of items that the Will maker wants to leave to a certain individual or group in their Will. An example of a specific gift could be gifting your car to your spouse.
If you are certain about the fate of a particular item that you own, you have to specifically detail this within the Will itself. When writing specific gifts into a Will, care must be taken to ensure the gift itself is administered properly. For example, the Will maker may want the beneficiary to have a specific item from their personal collection or the full collection itself. Hence, the writing of the Will itself needs to be precise. Specific gifts can cause complications in that they may result in the Will needing to be updated if the gift changes in nature, value or does not exist anymore. Therefore, understanding their impact must be considered when writing your Will.
Similar to a specific gift, pecuniary gifts are a specific amount of money given to a beneficiary or split between a group of beneficiaries. A pecuniary gift can be split evenly between a group or distributed in varying amounts. The pecuniary gift can be a fixed amount, or the Will maker can require that inflation is considered. Here, the fixed amount would retain its intended value despite the Will being made years before being administered.
Pecuniary and specific gifts will be honoured in line with the law surrounding legal rights in Scotland.
A residuary gift is administered by leaving a portion of your estate to an individual or group after all the fees, debts, taxes and other gifts have been satisfied. The residue of an estate could end up being large or the estate itself could end up being insolvent, meaning there is no residue to administer. Often, the residue will be left to the deceased’s family; nevertheless, the residue can be left to anyone they wish.
Working throughout Ayrshire, our devoted legal team are here to help you today. If you have any queries about writing a Will or the different gifts you can leave, our knowledgeable and experienced team can make the process easy. For tailored advice, call us today on 01292 289 584 or use our online enquiry form.
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