legal rights

in the succession law of Scotland, the financial provision that the law takes from a person's estate for relatives. Before this exercise takes place, statutory prior rights have to be considered – they are every bit as legal and can quite often exhaust an estate – however, prior rights operate only on intestacy. Legal rights apply whether there is or is not a will. The free moveable estate, i.e. exclusive of heritage, is divided into three parts: one for the widow or widower, called jus relictae or jus relicti respectively; one for the children or, if dying before the deceased, their representative(s), called legitim or the bairn's part; and the dead's part, which, as the names suggests, means that it can be willed with impunity. Clearly, these provisions can be avoided by transferring one's property into heritage or disposing of the property during life.