First City Monument Bank plc v Zumax Nigeria Ltd [2019] WTLR 511
Summer 2019 #175The claimant held accounts in Nigeria with IMB International Bank, whose rights and obligations had been inherited by the defendant through a series of mergers. IMB itself held ‘correspondent’ accounts with a London bank. The claimant often received funds to an Isle of Man nominee which held a bank account in London.
In a series of 10 transfers between 2000 and 2002, the claimant’s nominee gave instructions to its bank to transfer sums to one of IMB’s accounts variously identifying the ‘beneficiary’ as IMB but in eight cases ‘for further credit to’ the claimant. Sums totalling $3,...
HMRC v Parry & ors [2019] WTLR 45
Spring 2019 #174Shortly before her death the director of a company (S) transferred the funds from a company pension policy acquired by her on her divorce from her ex-husband and known as a s32 buyout policy (the s32 policy) to a personal pension policy (PPP) issued by AXA. At the same time S nominated her two sons as her beneficiaries in relation to the death benefit payable under the PPP. If the s32 pension had remained in the company scheme, on her death a sum would have been payable to S’s estate which would have been chargeable to IHT. S’s sons were the residuary beneficia...
Martin v Martin [2019] WTLR 181
Spring 2019 #174A company was incorporated by the husband and a friend in 1978 as equal shareholders. The husband and wife started living together in 1986, and married in 1989. At this point, the husband acquired 99% of the shares and the wife 1%. They separated in 2015.
On a wife’s application for a financial remedy order, the judge found that the capital assets were £182m in properties and pension funds, and 100% of the shares in a private company, which he valued at £221m before tax and costs of sale. He found that 80% of the company’s value was marital property, by applying a straight-line ap...
Moore v Moore & anr [2019] WTLR 233
Spring 2019 #174In 1966 the claimant and his brother became the joint owners of a substantial farm in Wiltshire and began farming in partnership. The claimant’s son, the defendant, worked on the farm from childhood and became a salaried partner in 1998.
The brother retired from the partnership in 2008 and gave his partnership share to the defendant in return for a payment of £500,000 from the partnership. The claimant and the defendant also incorporated a company, of which the defendant was 51% shareholder, and to which various partnership assets were transferred in 2010.
Relations between...
Lehtimaki v CIFF [2018] WTLR 491
Summer 2018 #172The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (UK) (‘CIFF’) was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee without a share capital on 8 February 2002 with the aim of improving the lives of children in developing countries. It had been founded by two of the respondents, Sir Christopher Hohn and his then wife, Jamie Cooper. Each of them, both of whom were members and trustees, had contributed to the charity’s success. The only other member, though not a trustee, was the Appellant. The present litigation had its origins in the breakdown of the relationship between Sir Christopher Hohn and J...
R (on the application of Conway) v The Secretary of State for Justice [2018] WTLR 597
Summer 2018 #172The Appellant, Mr Conway, suffered from terminal motor neurone disease. He sought a declaration under s4 of the Human Rights Act 1998 that s2(1) of the Suicide Act 1961, which makes assisted suicide a criminal offence, disproportionate interferes with his right to respect for his private life under Art8 of the ECHR.
At first instance, Mr Conway put forward four main arguments:
1. The ‘blanket ban’ on the provision of assistance for suicide constituted an interference with his Art8(1) rights in a way which is disproportio...
Shiner v The Commissioners for HM Revenue & Customs [2018] WTLR 649
Summer 2018 #172Facts
DS and IS were at all material times resident in the UK for tax purposes and were beneficially entitled to the income from MOH, an English property development company of which they were the shareholders and directors. On advice, they used a tax avoidance scheme that took advantage of the provisions of the 1955 UK-Isle of Man double tax treaty (DTT). These provisions exempted the industrial or commercial profits of an Isle of Man (IOM) enterprise, which could include a partnership, from UK tax unless it was engaged in trade or business in the UK through a permanent establis...
Anderson v Spencer [2018] WTLR 1
Spring 2018 #171The mother and executor (V) of the deceased appealed against an order that a DNA sample from the deceased, held by a hospital, be tested against the respondent (D), to determine whether he was the son of the deceased. The deceased had suffered from an hereditary form of bowel cancer called Lynch Syndrome, and so D wanted to discover if he was at risk of this condition developing. V refused consent. D applied for a declaration of paternity under s55A Family Law Act 1986, in the context of which he sought an order for testing of the DNA sample collected by the hospital during the ...