| Guernsey Reforms Inheritance Law |
by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
The Guernsey government has noted the newly adopted Inheritance (Guernsey)
Law, 2011, which is due to come into force on April 2, 2012.
The new law applies to a person who dies on or after April 2, 2012, and whose will
was made on or after that date or who dies intestate (that is, he has not made
a will which is still valid). The new rules do not apply, generally speaking,
to the estate of a person who made a will before April 2, 2012.
At present, Guernsey's inheritance laws restrict the categories of people to
whom an individual can leave his or her real property by will, and permit only
a proportion of a person's personal property to be left to persons other than
certain family members. Under the new law, there will be no such restrictions
- a person will be able to leave his or her property, in principle, to whomever
he or she wishes.
The law also makes changes to rules on intestacy. Where a person dies on or
after April 2, 2012, without having made a will, his or her property will pass
to his or her relatives according to new rules set out in the Schedule to the
new law.
The new law also enables a relative of a person who has died, or a person
who was dependent upon the deceased at the time of death, to apply to the Court
for reasonable provision to be made for him or her out of the estate where the
effect of the will or the intestacy was that he or she was not properly provided
for.
The classes of person who may apply under these provisions, and the grounds
for granting such an application, are restricted and in the vast majority of
cases, where the deceased person will have made adequate
provision for those who might reasonably have been expected to benefit, it is
unlikely that any application will be made or, if made, will be successful,
the government further added. The government has therefore advised that when
a person is making a will after April 2, 2012, he or she should be aware that
it is possible that a family member or dependant who has not been properly provided
for might make an application challenging the terms of that will, and should
discuss the matter with his or her advocate.
As the new rules do not apply to wills existing before April 2, 2012, the government
has noted some persons will wish to redraft their will prior to April 2, 2012,
to avoid their will being subject to the new provisions if desired. However,
if a person wishes the new Law to apply to his or her estate, but does not want
to wait until April 2, 2012, before making his or her will, that can also be
done by making a new will stating the wish for the new provisions to apply when
the new law comes into force.
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LAWANDTAX-NEWS.COM
