How to deal with a deceased's estate in Scotland

Hayley Robertson, Partner at Brodies LLP, explains everything executors need to know about registering a death, applying for confirmation, and distributing an estate in Scotland.

How do you register a death in Scotland?

Following a death, an electronic certificate known as the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death is issued by the registered medical practitioner attending to the deceased. This medical certificate allows the death to be registered and will be forwarded to the registration office of your choice (and a copy can be emailed to you on request).

Deaths can be registered at any registration office in Scotland. The list of all registrars in Scotland is available via your local council. Deaths should be registered within eight days from the date of the deceased's passing.

Deaths can be registered by:

any relative of the deceased (including relatives via marriage or civil partnership)
any person present at the death
an executor or other legal representative of the deceased
the occupier of the premises where the death took place (for example, hospital, care home or other institution)

If there is no-one that fits within this list, any other person with knowledge of the details to be registered can register the death. It is also possible for the appointed funeral director to act as an informant.

When you are ready to proceed with registration, you should contact your chosen registration office. You will be given the choice of:

an in-office appointment
the option to register the death by phone or online call – the latter remote registration remaining as an option following the COVID-19 pandemic

During the appointment (whether in person or remote) the Registrar will ask you to declare that all information provided is accurate and to sign the register entry.

Once the death has been registered, you will be given an abbreviated death certificate free of charge. You can also purchase full death certificates (for an initial charge of £12 for the first certificate and a further £10 each for any additional certificates). The purchase of the full death certificate is recommended as it needs to be sent to a number of financial institutions as part of the estate administration process.

The registrar will send the Certificate of Registration of Death (Form 14) to the appointed funeral director which will allow the funeral arrangements to be made - or to you if no funeral director has been appointed.

What is the Tell Us Once service?

The Tell Us Once service is a UK Government service which allows multiple government agencies to be simultaneously notified of the death provided the deceased was living in England, Scotland or Wales when they died. It can also be used where the deceased died whilst abroad temporarily, for example on holiday or a business trip.

During the death registration, the registrar will either complete the Tell Us Once service with you or provide you with a unique reference number to use the service yourself online or by phone.

Tell Us Once will notify the following bodies of the death:

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) – to deal with personal tax and to cancel any benefits
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – to cancel benefits and entitlements e.g. state pension
Passport Office – to cancel a UK passport
Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA) – to cancel a licence, remove the person as the registered keeper and end the vehicle tax
the local authority – to cancel any housing benefits, council tax support, a blue badge, inform council housing services and to remove the person from the electoral register
Veterans UK – to cancel or update Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments
Social Security Scotland – to cancel any benefits and entitlements from the Scottish Government
some public sector pension schemes, such as Armed Forces Pension Scheme, NHS Pensions for NHS staff, teachers, police and firefighters in Scotland, Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme and Local Government Pension Schemes

It is common for individuals to hold additional financial assets (such as bank accounts, investments and life policies) and the executor(s) (or more commonly the solicitor firm engaged on their behalf) are required to inform those institutions separately of the death and request date of death values. The date of death values are needed for the purposes of the Inheritance Tax (IHT) assessment and any subsequent IHT reporting/payment, as well as the application for confirmation.

Do you need to pay inheritance tax (IHT) on a deceased’s estate in Scotland?

IHT is a UK tax which is charged at the rate of 40% on the open market value of the deceased's worldwide estate after the deduction of debts, funeral expenses and any applicable exemptions and reliefs.

In order to find out if there's any IHT to pay you need to know:

the total value of the assets and liabilities of the deceased's estate, as at the date of death
the value of any gifts made by the deceased within seven years of death which are chargeable or have become chargeable as a result of the death and which will reduce or eliminate the NRB available to the estate (and in some cases up to 14 years depending on the ordering and type of gifts)
the details of who is inheriting the estate – whether under a will or the laws of intestacy (which apply where there is no will) to ascertain whether any of the exemptions or reliefs from IHT outlined above can be applied

Where IHT is due on an estate, the IHT must be paid to HMRC by the end of the 6^th month following the death to prevent interest and/or penalties being incurred. Where IHT is due in relation to land or buildings, it is possible to elect to pay the IHT via ten yearly instalments – with the 1^st instalment falling due with the rest of the estate IHT six months after death. If the instalment option is chosen interest accrues (at the current rate of 7% from 25 February 2025) until all the IHT and interest has been settled.

There is usually no IHT to pay if either:

the value of your estate is below the £325,000 threshold (known as the Nil Rate Band (NRB))
you leave everything above the £325,000 NRB to your spouse or civil partner, a charity or community amateur sports club (i.e. to exempt beneficiaries)

In addition, if you leave your home to your children (which includes adopted, foster or stepchildren) or grandchildren you may qualify for the Residence Nil Rate Band (RNRB) which gives an extra threshold of up to a maximum of £175,000 to be applied solely to the value of the deceased's home.

The RNRB tapers away, however, by £1 for every £2 where the value of the estate on death exceeds £2 million (which for this purpose is the estate value after the deduction of any debts but before the deduction of any reliefs or exemptions) and is therefore not available at all for taxable estates with a value in excess of £2.35 million.

If the NRB and RNRB is not used on the first death of spouses or civil partners (typically because of the entire estate passing to the surviving spouse/civil partner with no lifetime gifts to report), these can transfer to the surviving spouse or civil partner for use on their death. This gives the estate of the second to die the potential benefit of a maximum threshold of £650,000 (i.e. 2 x NRB) plus £350,000 (i.e. 2 x RNRB provided the criteria is met).

If the deceased owned business or agricultural assets it is likely that these assets will qualify for Business Property Relief (BPR) or Agricultural Property Relief (APR). These reliefs can reduce the value of the assets for IHT purposes by either 50% or 100%. There is no cap on the value that can be relieved using BPR or APR, so these reliefs can be very valuable.

The UK Government's overhaul of the existing IHT rules were announced in the 2024 Autumn Budget, attracting significant media attention. From 6 April 2026, APR and BPR are being restricted and from 6 April 2027 a new charge is to be introduced on unused pension pots on death.

How do you apply for confirmation in Scotland?

Confirmation is the Scottish equivalent of English probate. It is the process which gives the executor (the legally appointed representative of the deceased – whether appointed by a will or via a court application under the laws of intestacy) legal title to ingather and distribute the assets within the estate to the nominated beneficiaries.

When applying for confirmation, the executor must provide a detailed inventory of all the deceased's property as at the date of death to the deceased's local Sheriff Court alongside the prescribed Form C1 Confirmation Inventory (together the 'Form C1') with any wills/testamentary writings. If the estate's value is below £36,000 then it is considered a ‘small estate’, and the Sheriff Clerk can assist with the preparation of Form C1 incorporating the inventory. That process can be started by contacting the local Sheriff Court to make an appointment to discuss the estate.

For estates over £36,000 there are differing rules depending on the nature and value of the assets. In addition to the Form C1, some estates will require a full inheritance tax return (known as the IHT400) to be submitted to HMRC in the first instance.

Excepted estates are estates where no IHT is payable and require a Form C1. In those cases, the application for confirmation can be done without the need for an IHT400. An estate is considered excepted in three scenarios:

Low value estates - no inheritance tax is payable because the gross value of the estate is below the IHT nil rate band (currently £325,000) or, where there is a claim of unused nil rate band from a predeceasing spouse's estate, the gross value of the estate is below 2 times the IHT nil rate band.
Exempt estates – no inheritance tax is payable because the gross value of the estate is below £3,000,000 and after the spousal/civil partner and/or charity exemptions are applied the net estate is below the IHT nil rate band of £325,000 (assets passing to spouses/civil partners and charities pass free of IHT). The gross value of the estate must be calculated with reference to the value of the legal rights of the deceased's children (the legitim fund).
Foreign domiciliaries – no IHT is payable because the deceased was domiciled outside of the UK (and had never been domiciled in the UK or treated as such for UK IHT purposes), the gross UK estate is below £150,000 and the assets consist of cash and listed shares and securities. A form C5(OUK) should be used here.

For both low value estates and exempt estates:

the deceased and their spouse/civil partner must be UK domiciled
any estate assets held in trust must be below £250,000
any lifetime gifts of cash, quoted stocks and shares, personal effects and/or houses, land or buildings must be below £250,000
any foreign assets must be below £100,000
the deceased cannot have continued to receive a benefit from assets they previously gifted
there cannot be any alternatively secured pension charges

Assessing whether an estate is excepted or not can be complex. If the estate is not excepted and/or IHT is due, then the IHT400 is first submitted to HMRC along with a copy of Form C1. HMRC then issue an authorisation code to the executor confirming that the IHT has been paid. On receiving the authorisation code, the executor may submit the application for Confirmation to the Sheriff Court.

The preparation of an IHT 400 requires legal expertise and detailed information about the deceased and their estate must be provided to HMRC.

There are additional steps to complete for intestate estates. Where there is no will and the estate value is over £36,000, an executor-dative must first be appointed by petitioning the local Sheriff Court of the deceased. In addition, the executor must usually obtain an insurance policy called a Bond of Caution to protect the estate beneficiaries against wrongful distribution. Only then can the IHT400 and/or application for confirmation be submitted.

When can you distribute a deceased’s estate in Scotland?

Once confirmation has been obtained, the executor can proceed to ingather the assets in the estate, settle all debts (including any income tax or capital gains tax that may be due during the administration period), funeral expenses, fees and any legacies.

For large estates, it would be usual to instruct the preparation of full estate accounts for approval by the executor and where IHT was due to obtain clearance from HMRC before proceeding to make final distributions to the residuary beneficiaries.

The timing of the final distributions and therefore close of the estate administration period can vary greatly and is dependent on many factors such as the value and complexity of the estate, whether there are assets abroad and any claims on the estate that require to be discharged.

An executor should wait a minimum of six months following a death before making final distributions to allow any creditors to come forward. Similarly, if there is a possibility of a cohabitant claim in the event of an intestacy, an executor should wait at least six months (the current time limit on raising a claim - although this will be extended to 12 months) before proceeding to distribute.

Finally, legal rights claims (ie. the rights of spouses/civil partners and children to a set proportion of the moveable estate) prescribe after 20 years and therefore the executor should make reasonable efforts to identify, locate and contact all potential legal rights claimants and seek discharges where possible prior to making final distributions.

About the author

Hayley Robertson is a Partner at Brodies LLP. She specialises in advising high net worth individuals and their families in relation to succession planning, asset protection, inheritance tax mitigation, wills, trusts, executries and incapacity planning, and has a particular interest in winding up complex estates often involving family businesses and/or agricultural interests.

Find out more

Tell Us Once (GOV.UK)

Inheritance Tax: confirmation (C1) (GOV.UK)

Inheritance Tax account (IHT400) (GOV.UK)

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Publication date

13 March 2025

Any opinion expressed in this article is that of the author and the author alone, and does not necessarily represent that of The Gazette.