IHTM10300 - Legal rights (Scotland): introduction

In valuing legal rights (IHTM12221) it is necessary to distinguish between

• a true valuation under the general law (IHTM10301) of these rights as an asset in the hands of (or due to) a beneficiary, or what these rights are actually worth to that person at any given date, and
• a valuation made for IHT purposes on the death of the person whose estate is subject to the legal rights claim.

The valuation for IHT purposes is artificial in that it does not reflect the actual value of the legal rights to the person entitled to these rights. It is a consequence of the IHT legislation that is intended to establish fairly to what extent an estate is exempt from tax and to what extent it is chargeable to tax.