Liferent Explained

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

• 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.

Notes and References

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