Too many Scots without a will, says SCC
2 Oct 06
Consumer Council concerned at ignorance of inheritance laws and cost of making will
The majority of Scots have not made a will and many run the risk of leaving their loved ones in financial difficulty if they were to die unexpectedly - despite the fact that two-thirds of people in Scotland now own their home.
The Scottish Consumer Council (SCC) has conducted the first known research in more than 25 years into will making in Scotland.
The SCC decided to investigate this issue following concern that no up-to-date information existed about the number of Scots who have made wills and their understanding of inheritance rights. The last detailed research was conducted in 1979.
A representative sample of more than 1,000 Scots was questioned. The key findings are that:
- just over a third of those questioned (37%) had made a will;
- older people, home owners and the better off are most likely to have made a will;
- only a fifth of semi-skilled or unskilled workers and those unemployed had made a will;
- the most common reason for not making a will is that people have never got round to it;
- more than half did not have an accurate idea as to how much it would cost to have a will drawn up;
- only half of those questioned knew that unmarried partners had fewer inheritance rights than married partners or that stepchildren had fewer rights than a dead person’s own children.
Lack of understanding
The SCC says the findings show that most adults do not have a will and many do not have a good understanding of succession rights where no will has been left.
The current law on succession has remained largely unchanged for 40 years and does not reflect changing family structures, says the SCC. The result is that unmarried partners and stepchildren, in particular, face potentially devastating consequences where no will exists.
The report says people should also be made aware of the likely costs of making a will and the importance of ensuring it is updated.
Douglas Sinclair, chairman of the SCC, said: “A significant proportion of our respondents were not well informed about succession rights on intestacy, some did not know how much a will would cost, nor how this cost would compare with those costs, financial and otherwise, which may be incurred by their loved ones were they to die intestate.
"The SCC intends to take this issue forward in partnership with other organisations. We hope that this work will encourage every adult in Scotland to consider whether they should make a will.”