The Scottish Government is to raise the various limits relating to a claim of prior rights by a surviving spouse or civil partner and also as what constitutes a “small estate”.

These are pragmatic and sensible increases.

The new and previous prior rights limits can be found here.

The new small estate threshold can be found here.

Both changes come into force on 1 February 2012.

Interesting article in the Law Society Gazette on online estate fraud.

Fraudsters are increasingly targeting the estates of the deceased for valuable internet hosted assets such as online bank accounts.  The problem is that a Will becomes a public document when you seek confirmation.   A similar procedure applies in England & Wales.

The solution is stay “low tech”.  For example leave a note of your online account details  in a sealed envelope which can be kept by your solicitor alongside your Will.

The article can be found here.

A recent article on how one in ten of Britons have or intend to include their website passwords can also be found here.