Redress for Survivors (Historical Child Abuse in Care) (Scotland) Act 2021

28 Meaning of “specified next of kin”

(1) In this Act, “specified next of kin”, in relation to a deceased person, means—

(a) the person who, immediately before the death of the deceased person, was—

(i) the spouse or civil partner of the deceased person, or

(ii) the cohabitant of the deceased person,

(b) where the condition in subsection (3) is met, a child of the deceased person.

(2) In a case where there is or was both a person falling within subsection (1)(a)(i) and a person falling within subsection (1)(a)(ii), subsection (1)(a) is to be read as including only the person who was the cohabitant of the deceased person.

(3) The condition referred to in subsection (1)(b) is that—

(a) there is nobody who falls within subsection (1)(a) (either because there was no such person or because the person has since died), and

(b) in a case where the person has since died, the person had not accepted an offer of a next of kin payment in respect of the deceased person.

(4) In this section—

• “child of the deceased person” includes—

  (a)

  a stepchild of the deceased person, and

  (b)

  a person who was treated by the deceased person as the deceased person’s child,

• “cohabitant of the deceased person” means a person who—

  (a)

  was neither married to nor in a civil partnership with the deceased person, but

  (b)

  was living with that person as if they were married to each other and had been so living for a period of at least 6 months.