The parties may claim surviving spouse exemption in the estate
of a widow (or widower) on the grounds that her (or his) spouse
died in the Estate Duty period (that is, before 13 November 1974).
The background to this is that under the Estate Duty regime,
unlike IHT, surviving spouse exemption did not apply on the death
of the first spouse to die. However, in cases where property was
liable to Estate Duty on the death of the first spouse, and the
surviving spouse was given a limited interest in the property, e.g.
for life or until remarriage, the property was exempt from Estate
Duty on the death of the surviving spouse.
The Estate Duty exemption was kept for IHT purposes under
IHTA84/SCH6/para2 in cases where the first spouse died before 13
November 1974. There are further details of this exemption at
IHTM04450.
Such cases will still be seen today, and for some years to
come, but they are diminishing with time.
