Liferent, or life-rent, in Scots law is the right to receive for life the benefits of a property or other asset without the right to dispose of the property or the asset.[1] [2][3] Where the property is held in fee simple, the owner is termed the fiar.[4] (This is unrelated to Fiars Prices, another term in Scots law.[4]) For some acts relating to the property, the consent of both liferenter and fiar may be required by law.

Examples

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  • If a man held a liferent on arable land with a house, he could, for the rest of his life, live in the house and cultivate the land, keeping the income for himself. He could not transfer the land or house to another person.
  • A liferent might be set by law (as when someone died, it would apply to the surviving spouse); or it might be set as a private arrangement between individuals.

References

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  1. ^ "Scottish Language Dictionaries". Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  2. ^ "The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707". K.M. Brown et al. eds (St Andrews, 2007), 1605/6/39. Retrieved 15 February 2008.
  3. ^ Shumaker, Walter A.; George Foster Longsdorf (1922). The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary (Second Edition by James C. Cahill ed.). Chicago: Callaghan and Company.
  4. ^ a b "Definition of fiar". Merriam Webster. Retrieved 4 March 2021.