W G EXECUTRY

[1] A trans woman submitted an application for confirmation to this Commissariot. She did so via solicitors. In the will, the testator had referred to her both by her previous name and by her consanguinity to the testator. No other details are pertinent.

[2] The issue is whether the exhibition of a full gender recognition certificate under the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and a birth certificate are required in support of such an application for confirmation as suggested at paragraph 5-22 of Currie on Confirmation of Executors , ninth edition by Eilidh M Scobbie which reads:

“Where after the date of the deceased’s testamentary writing, an executor has formally changed sex by obtaining a gender recognition certificate, there will be no delay in the granting of confirmation if extract copies of the Birth Certificate and a Full Gender Recognition Certificate issued under the Gender Recognition Act 2004 are produced with the inventory, referred to in the declaration and docketed as relative thereto.”

Unsurprisingly, standing the paucity of such applications, there is no reference to judicial decision. While, in terms of the 2004 Act, there is a distinction between a full and an interim gender recognition certificate (depending on whether the person applying for the certificate is married, section 4(3)), the distinction is of no significance to this opinion. Where a full gender recognition certificate is issued the recipient is entitled to a new birth certificate (section 10 and schedule 3). The tenor of the Act is otherwise to maintain privacy.

[3] Initially the application for confirmation had been returned to the solicitors with a request for a full gender recognition certificate and birth certificate, in accordance with Currie . The solicitors replied questioning whether the issue was relevant and referring to the declaration which had disclosed a change of name. The matter was passed to me. I reached the same conclusion. I instructed that the application be processed.