"Uplift" appears to be the process whereby an executor obtains access to money (e.g. from a bank) or property belonging to the deceased so that it can be distributed in accordance with the will


Dealing With a Deceased’s Estate in Scotland


Please note that changes to excepted and/ or exempt estates come into force on 1 January 2022 as a consequence of the Inheritance Tax (Delivery of Accounts) (Excepted Estates) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 and will apply to deaths on or after that date.

Applying for confirmation

When dealing with a deceased’s estate, you may have been told that you need to obtain ‘confirmation’ before any money and other property, belonging to the deceased, can be released. It is often a bank, building society or insurance company that will ask for this.

‘Confirmation’ is a legal document from the court giving the executor(s) authority to uplift any money or other property belonging to a deceased person from the holder (such as the bank), and to administer and distribute it according to law. An application is lodged with the sheriff court.

This is only one part of the process in dealing with a deceased's estate, and is the part that the court is involved in. You will find some useful information on other parts of the process in the document What to do after a death in Scotland...practical advice for times of bereavement, produced by the Scottish Government.

When applying for confirmation, an executor must provide a list of all the deceased's property at the time of death. The list - called an inventory - might include money, houses, land and shares.

Confirmation is possible only if the inventory includes at least one item of money or other property in Scotland.

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Note added at 8 hrs (2022-06-27 18:21:50 GMT)
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From Succession (Scotland) Act 2016:

Section 27 – Additional ground of jurisdiction: executor confirmed in Scotland

78.As a matter of principle the Scottish courts should have jurisdiction whenever Scots law is the applicable law to the succession issue in question. At present there is a jurisdictional gap where the deceased’s executor is not domiciled in Scotland. Unless the will creates an express trust it may be that none of the provisions in Schedule 8 of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgements Act 1982 which deals with the jurisdiction of the Scottish courts will apply. As a result, those raising actions against executors in connection with the administration of a Scottish estate may have to do so in the courts of the country in which the executors are domiciled.

79.This section amends rule 2 of Schedule 8 of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 so that a person wishing to raise an action in respect of the administration of a Scottish estate by an executor who is not domiciled in Scotland may do so in the Scottish courts if the executor obtained the legal documentation necessary to authorise the making and receiving of payments on the estate known as confirmation, in Scotland. ‘Confirmation’ is a legal document from the court giving the executor(s) authority to uplift any money or other property belonging to a deceased person from the holder (such as the bank), and to administer and distribute it according to law.