In England, a parent can leave a child nothing. In Scotland, they can't. A will can say whatever it likes, but a child who is left out keeps a claim on part of the estate.
What legal rights are
Legal rights give a share of a person's moveable estate to their spouse or civil partner and to their children. The children's share is called legitim. The spouse's is called jus relicti, or jus relictae for a widow.
If a spouse and children both survive, each group gets one third of the net moveable estate. If only one group survives, it gets one half. Children split their share equally. If a child has died, that child's own children can take their place.
The claim exists whether the person left a will or not. It applies where the person died domiciled in Scotland, and nobody has to go to court to establish it.
Moveable and heritable estate
Legal rights reach moveable estate only. That means cash, savings, investments, vehicles, furniture and other possessions. For a business or farm it includes stock, livestock and machinery.
Heritable estate, meaning land and buildings, is outside legal rights. The net moveable estate is worked out after debts, funeral costs, administration expenses and inheritance tax.
So a child left out of a will can't claim part of the house. They can claim part of the money in the bank.
What a child has to do
Legal rights don't arrive on their own. A child has to claim them, and practitioners generally give 20 years from the date of death. A child can also agree to give up their legal rights, usually in return for something else, which is called a discharge. That needs proper legal advice for both sides.
Who is covered, and who isn't
Biological and adopted children have legal rights. Stepchildren don't, even where the stepparent inherited from the child's own parent. That catches families in second marriages, and our guide on the liferent trust explains one way to deal with it.
What this means for your will
Leaving a child out doesn't work as a way to disinherit them. It leaves a claim that the executor has to meet, often at a difficult time for the family.
If you want a different result, the options need careful drafting. They include agreeing a discharge with the child during your lifetime and structuring what you own, which depends on how much of your wealth is moveable. If a parent dies without a will, the same rights apply on top of the rules in our guide to dying without a will.
Richard arranges wills through our specialist legal partners, who deal with legal rights as a matter of routine. Start with our Wills page. If your estate includes a farm or business, read about the 2026 relief changes too, because the tax and the legal rights interact.