The Cost of Dying Keeps Rising: What You Can Do About It
Funeral prices, court fees and Inheritance Tax are all on the rise. We look at what a death in the family really costs in Scotland today, and the practical steps you can take now to ease the burden on the people you leave behind.
Owning a Piece of History: Buying and Maintaining a Listed Building in Scotland
Many of Cowal's finest homes are listed, and the legal obligations pass with the keys. We explain what listing covers, when you need consent, why old unauthorised works can become your problem, and the checks and costs to plan for.
Living Digital Lives: What Happens to Your Digital Assets When You Die?
Photos, emails, online accounts and cryptocurrency are now part of most people's estates. We explain what the Digital Assets (Scotland) Act 2026 changes, why your passwords do not belong in your Will, and what your executors really need instead.
A Tale of Two Wills: Why How You Make It Matters as Much as What It Says
Two Scottish decisions from this year tell almost the same story and end in opposite ways. One Will was reduced, the other stood. What separated them was not luck, it was how each Will had been made.
When a Neighbour Crosses the Line: Boundary Disputes in Scotland
Boundary disputes start small and get expensive. Here is how boundaries actually work in Scotland, why the fence on the ground may not be the legal line, and the practical steps that resolve most disagreements without going near a court.
The First Homes Fund Explained: £10,000 Towards a First Home in Argyll
The Scottish Government’s First Homes Fund offers first-time buyers up to £10,000 towards a first home. Here is how the scheme works, who qualifies and why the timing of your application matters more than most people realise.
Festive Greetings
With best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from
everyone at Stewart & Bennett
Festive Greetings
With best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from
everyone at Stewart & Bennett
Shona Ritchie raises funds for Pink Ladies Day
Our Accredited Paralegal Shona Ritchie has been busy once more raising funds for a good cause. Her personal experience of routine screening leading to detection and treatment of breast cancer inspired her to have her head shaved in order to raise funds for Pink Ladies Day.
Does Buy-to-Let stack up?
Whilst the Scottish Government has announced a ‘commitment to an effective system of national rent controls and measures to strengthen tenants’ rights’, we don’t yet know what those controls or new rights will be. In their agreement with the Scottish Green Party, the stated position is to make ‘housing in the rented sector … more affordable and more secure.’
This announcement is the latest of a number of regulatory and tax changes affecting the buy-to-let sector in recent years and its attractiveness as an investment.