Alison Green and Adam Patterson consider a Privy Council decision that provides a salutary lesson on preparation for, and the conduct of, litigation ‘The decision in Bromfield provides another list of factors as to what will be insufficient for a party to establish a direct interest in property owned by a company.’The decision in Bromfield …
Continue reading "Practice: Wrong direction"
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Mena Ruparel outlines recent developments in Prest and the requirements to be satisfied on a judgment summons application ‘An application for a judgment summons is quite a rare beast and an unusual enforcement method: the burden of proof is the criminal standard, ie beyond a reasonable double, and not the civil standard.’ The Supreme Court …
Continue reading "Enforcement: Another chapter"
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Rachel Wilmott highlights the courts’ approach when dealing with financial conduct and litigation conduct ‘There is no formulaic or accurate weighing mechanism for determining how the respective misconduct of the parties should be reflected in any order for costs.’ The decision in US v SR [2014] addresses at length the law on notional reattribution and …
Continue reading "Conduct: The blame game"
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Graeme Fraser and Stephen Morrall consider the benefits of combining corporate and family law strategic advice when dealing with business assets on divorce ‘It is clear that, where a family has shared interests in a family company, the members should strive to find a common agreement to regulate those interests in as practical and tax-efficient …
Continue reading "Business Assets: Future proofing"
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Pennyfeathers underscores the stringency of directors’ duties and indicates when the court will lift the corporate veil to provide a remedy for breach. Nicholas Broomfield explains ‘Lord Sumption had affirmed a limited power of the court to pierce the corporate veil in circumstances where a party was abusing corporate personality to evade their obligations.’ The …
Continue reading "Fiduciary Duties: Rigour at all times"
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Claire Blakemore provides a practical guide for trustees in the event of divorce div class=”pullquote”>’Trustees must consider carefully what position they will need to take in the context of the case and in particular on disclosure and enforcement.’ The American preacher Lorenzo Dow famously said ‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’ and …
Continue reading "Divorce: Stuck in the middle"
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Jason Nickless describes how trusts were applied to resolve the dispute in Wise v Jimenez [2013] ‘Mr Jimenez gave a number of different accounts as to precisely how [the] moneys had been invested. After analysing the evidence, the court was satisfied that the purpose behind the investment of the moneys had not been fulfilled’. On …
Continue reading "Trusts: In the commercial sphere"
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Mark Harper and Will MacFarlane discuss M v M, which has lessons on attacking real estate held by offshore companies ‘Both Prest and M v M are examples of the Family Division having to apply complex principles of property law.’ For those who advise clients as to how to structure the purchase of UK real …
Continue reading "Trusts And Divorce: Striving for a fair result?"
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | December 2013 #135The transcript of this judgment is reported in part from para 164 onwards and starts with a discussion of the law. No part of the report provides a factual narrative.
Held (allowing the wife’s claim for financial relief):
The court had power on divorce to order a party to the marriage to transfer to the other party such property as may be so specified to which that party was entitled, either in possession or reversion. In this case almost all the wealth created by the husband during the course of the marriage was held through offshore company structures and the ques...
Paula Butterworth analyses the impact of the Supreme Court decision Prest in a cohabitant case ‘It was accepted by the Court of Appeal that this was not a case in which there was scope to pierce the corporate veil, so as to identify the second defendant company with the first defendant.’ The Court of Appeal …
Continue reading "Cohabitants: Life after Prest"
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