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Showing 10 of 2,354,908 contributions. Latest 30 days: 0. Coverage: 12 May 1999 — 25 Mar 2026.
Lesley Brennan Lab Committee
26 Jan 2016
Succession (Scotland) Bill: Before Stage 3
That helpfully leads to my next question. Do you intend to return to consider bonds of caution further in a subsequent succession bill?
Lesley Brennan Lab Committee
26 Jan 2016
Succession (Scotland) Bill: Before Stage 3
Would it have been possible to forego pursuing the issue until a further succession bill was brought forward in the next session?
Lesley Brennan Lab Committee
26 Jan 2016
Succession (Scotland) Bill: Before Stage 3
The Scottish Government indicated that it would not pursue matters in relation to bonds of caution in the context of the bill. Will you set out for the committee why you took that decision and why you now feel compelled to seek to amend the bill in this way?
Lesley Brennan Lab Committee
26 Jan 2016
Succession (Scotland) Bill: Before Stage 3
Will you give us some more detail on the consultation that you undertook to inform your decision?
Lesley Brennan Lab Committee
26 Jan 2016
Succession (Scotland) Bill: Before Stage 3
Okay. Thank you. 12:00
Lesley Brennan Lab Committee
26 Jan 2016
Succession (Scotland) Bill: Before Stage 3
That is because of the market failure and the Zurich—
Lesley Brennan Lab Committee
26 Jan 2016
Succession (Scotland) Bill: Before Stage 3
Would there be benefit in having further consultation on the matter?
Lesley Brennan Lab Committee
26 Jan 2016
Succession (Scotland) Bill: Before Stage 3
I want to go back to a point that you have been asked about twice. Obviously, Zurich will withdraw from the market on 1 February and we will have only one provider left, so that is a market failure. We would hope that, when there was a market failure, the Government would step...
Lesley Brennan Lab Committee
26 Jan 2016
Succession (Scotland) Bill: Before Stage 3
My understanding is that the estate would go to the sheriff clerk, who would draw the family tree. There was another bit—
Lesley Brennan Lab Committee
26 Jan 2016
Succession (Scotland) Bill: Before Stage 3
If there were any errors in that, I suppose that the liability would rest with the sheriff clerk and therefore the Scottish Government. That was my interpretation, although I do not know whether it is correct.
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Committee

Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee 26 January 2016

26 Jan 2016 · S4 · Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
Item of business
Succession (Scotland) Bill: Before Stage 3
Brennan, Lesley Lab North East Scotland Watch on SPTV
That helpfully leads to my next question. Do you intend to return to consider bonds of caution further in a subsequent succession bill?

In the same item of business

The Convener SNP
Our penultimate agenda item is oral evidence on the Succession (Scotland) Bill, more specifically on the stage 3 amendments that have been lodged by the Gove...
John Scott (Ayr) (Con) Con
Welcome back to the committee, which is an unexpected pleasure for us and, I dare say, for you, too. What are the circumstances in which it is currently req...
Jill Clark (Scottish Government)
I can give some background about that. If no executor is named in a will, and if there is no will, the court will appoint an executor dative. Normally, that ...
Jane MacDonald (Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service)
I think that the most recent number that we came up with was 800 or so small estates that required bonds of caution.
The Convener SNP
For those who are listening to this or might be reading it, am I right in thinking that an executor nominate is one who is named in the will and an executor ...
Jill Clark
Yes.
The Convener SNP
Thank you. I thought that it would be helpful to put that bit of Latin on the record. 11:30
John Scott Con
Thank you for that. Are there any further implications for small estates more generally of Zurich withdrawing the provision of bonds of caution?
Jill Clark
Not that we have considered. The impact is the cost that small estates will have to bear of having a solicitor and the potential delay for the SCTS.
John Scott Con
What is the purpose and effect of the amendments that you have lodged on small estates? How will they address the problem that has been created by Zurich’s d...
Jill Clark
There is a series of amendments. The main one removes the requirement for executors who are administering a small estate subject to the simplified procedure ...
John Scott Con
Which small estates are eligible for the small estate procedure and therefore will be affected by the proposed exemption? Can you explain the process by whic...
Jill Clark
I will start with an answer and then Jane MacDonald will perhaps help out a bit. An estate is classed as a small estate when its gross value, subject to conf...
Jane MacDonald
The sheriff clerk has the authority to administer small estates without reverting to any judicial considerations. They have to be simple estates for which th...
The Convener SNP
Forgive me for going back on that point, but I want to extend the issue. Who, if there is no executor, draws up the inventory? Who gets a gross valuation? Ho...
Jane MacDonald
The person who thinks that they are entitled to be an executor usually phones up the various financial institutions that hold the money—the bank or whatever—...
The Convener SNP
That sounds enormously complicated. If a person is not an executor, how do they even have authority to ask the bank for someone else’s account balance? I do ...
Jane MacDonald
I simply do not know the answer to that in a small estate. All I know is that family members are able to turn up at court with that information, which they h...
The Convener SNP
Perhaps I am going back further in the process than we need to.
Stewart Stevenson SNP
It would be useful to get confirmation that it is the general practice of registrars, who will, of course, register the death, to hand the person registering...
The Convener SNP
That might be an issue to which we can return to, but let us deal with the substance of what we have before us today. Stewart, will you carry on with the que...
Stewart Stevenson SNP
Clearly, the bonds of caution are a type of insurance. It might be useful to say what attributes this insurance policy must have that make it a valid bond of...
Jill Clark
My understanding is that the bond is more of a guarantee against the actions of the executor and a means of protecting the beneficiaries and creditors. Are y...
Jane MacDonald
Not particularly. It is a fairly simple bond that gives the executor insurance cover. I have an example here with me that I could pass around, although it is...
Stewart Stevenson SNP
Possibly—it might be useful. If it is a bond, there is presumably a limit to the cover that is provided; there is a value associated with the bond.
Jane MacDonald
That is right. The amount of the bond fully covers the amount of the confirmation in the estate.
Stewart Stevenson SNP
I suppose that the questions around this subject are as follows: who in essence is paying out and who is liable, ultimately, to the beneficiaries? Does the b...
Jane MacDonald
The executor remains liable. Indeed, a beneficiary should pursue the executor first to get back any loss. The bond is there to pick up the pieces should that...
Stewart Stevenson SNP
Does that suggest, therefore, that the bond of caution is a protection for the executor rather than for the beneficiaries?
Jill Clark
It is intended as a protection for the beneficiaries and for creditors to the estate, to ensure that they are paid out of any money that the estate has. The ...