50 signatures reached
To: Kate Dowdells QC
Law of succession reform in Scotland
Succession law. Rules of intestacy in Scotland.
The 6 months a cohabiter has to act is not long enough . Changes have to be made for couples who choose not to get married. Without knowing the law and what questions to ask how is anyone to realise the ramifications of someones passing without a will.
Maybe it should be law if a couple own a house together, married or not that the survivorship clause should be in effect. Maybe it should be law that you have to name a beneficiary on your work insurance if any are in place.
Maybe it should be law that everyone has a will.
You have three years to claim after an injury at work but only six months to act, when consumed by grief, post traumatic stress & everything else life throws at you in these circumstances.
A lot can happen in six months. Its not just mothers who are left devastated by these rules, its fathers and partners who have no children too.
Thank you for reading this & considering my plea.
Why is this important?
How would you feel if this happened to you?
In Dec 2020 I came home to find my partner of 12 years dead. Not allowed to stay in my home as it was a sudden death,I packed myself,his step son & our cat up to stay at my partners sisters until I could return a few days later.In shock I spent the next few days/weeks on the phone to work/banks/insurance etc. I asked my sister in law(though not married)if she knew of a solicitor. She did, on the phone I was given a quick run down of the process & was told to get back in touch after the funeral & Christmas.Jan 4th I emailed the solicitor, reminded him of who I was & asked if he could get in touch to go over what we do next.Jan 5th I was emailed by another solicitor in the same firm & she explained she had spoken to my sister in law,had emailed her what happens next & confirmed that my sister in law would go over this with me.I didn’t think anything of it at that time,I had a good relationship with my sister in law & had hit a few walls with phone calls etc as I was not married or next of kin. So trusted the process & the information my sister in law was telling me,it was explained that an application through the courts to appoint an executer,which would be her, could take months(covid etc) her words to me early on were ‘this has to be done properly so that my dad or my mum(both strained relationships) don't come looking for something 6 months down the line’ .Not once had I been told by the solicitor or sister in law to get my own solicitor or that I would have to apply within 6 months to have anything to do with the home or vehicles we own. Other people told me to get one but I was not capable of making clear decisions, I was trusting the process & what I was being told. I took only 4 weeks off work, couldn’t afford to be off longer. I waited 4 months to get my partners phone & tablet back from police.I waited 5 months to get a definitive answer on the passing of my partner from the procurator fiscal,Toxic effects of Nefopam and gabapentin, two of many medications he was taking for chronic pain. In those months of waiting I was not sleeping or eating properly,working full time, struggling with anxiety & depression, no time to think about what questions I should be asking,again trusting the process.He had no will but I believed my partner had put things in place for me & his step son to be looked after in the event of him passing away.One of them being I was 50% beneficiary on death in service from his work along with his sister & mum for the other 50%.In June his mum was in hospital & I ended up looking after her cat for 4-5weeks as she had a serious operation, she got home but was never really the same, sadly passing away on 21st September. Sept 9th when I received a text from my sister in law, an update from the solicitor asking for some information to be provided I started to actually fear what was going to happen to my home etc. It is then I contacted Citizens Advice who got me 15 mins free with a solicitor. I now have someone looking into things for me as I feel I have been misinformed from the start. Communication has broken down with my sister in law, I have all the sympathy for what she is going through right now but feel like we, his family unit have been totally sidelined. Recently I found out that my partner did not express a wish on his death in service so it falls into intestacy, now his sister & dad share that, my partners step son and I are totally by passed on that one. I am devastated by the passing of my partner & this is such a blow. My partner & I have been through some very tough times especially in the last couple of years, his diagnosis of diabetes, kidney stone, chronic back pain, lots of medication changes & mental health issues from his past that came to the surface again. Things have been hard enough without all this now happening.
A lot can happen in six months. Its not just mothers who are left devastated by these rules, its fathers and partners who have no children too. I know my partner did not want it to end up this way & not knowing the law he actually had no idea it would. He would not have told me for years that these things were in place if he didn't think he had signed the form or expressed his wish in some way so I will forever not know what happened there.
You have three years to claim after an injury at work but only six months to act, when consumed by grief, post traumatic stress & everything else life throws at you in these circumstances. I don’t have the answers to what the ins & outs of the law changes should be but surely an extension on the timescale to 12-18 months is more reasonable & able to be put in place immediately.
