Murray Beith Murray is a leading Scottish private client law firm.
For over 170 years we have specialised in meeting the legal, financial and administrative needs of individuals and families, family trusts, charities and private companies.
Despite the turmoil caused by economic uncertainty surrounding Brexit, figures show that the housing market in Scotland has continued to flourish. The average house price in Scotland rose by 2.4 per cent in 2018. The total volume of sales in 2018 also increased from those seen in 2017. While there are always exceptions in particular sectors or locations, the market generally appears to be performing strongly, with further growth predicted over the next five years.
As I wrote in my article on 26 November 2018, the Scottish Government provided a useful update at the end of last year regarding their plans for Succession Law Reform. That update removed some of the uncertainty that has existed for the past few years but still left a number of issues unresolved. To make further progress, the Scottish Government recently released a Consultation on the Law of Succession, focussed on what should happen if someone dies intestate (without a Will).
With less than a month until the end of the 2018/19 tax year the annual rush of frantic tax planning is well underway for many individuals. One of the lesser known, but highly advantageous, tax reliefs available to individual taxpayers comes in the form of Share Aid.
According to David Thorpe of the FT Advisor, it seems a lot of people are missing out on an important tax break when it comes to inheriting a deceased spouse’s Isa accounts:-
When a family member or friend is temporarily short of money, your instinct might be to step in and lend them the funds they need. In many cases, the amount of cash involved will not be significant to you, and as a result would not warrant committing the arrangement to writing.
