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The dispute over Johnny Hallyday’s estate is an example of the problems that can arise with international estates. Patrick Delas discusses ‘If Johnny died habitually resident in France or was at least manifestly more closely connected with France, as David and Laura claim, French courts should regard themselves as having jurisdiction in relation to the …
Continue reading "French succession law: Ça n’finira jamais"
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Geoffrey Shindler has some suggestions for the governance of HMRC and the process by which tax legislation is imposed ‘We need to go back to the very first principles and challenge why we need to have so much tax legislation every year.’ There are times when I wonder not only whether there is any joined-up …
Continue reading "Musings from Manchester: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"
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Mark Pawlowski and James Brown examine the possibility of using the mechanism of a residuary legatee in order to enforce a trust for non-charitable purposes ‘If there are no beneficiaries with equitable interests in the trust assets, there is technically no one “in whose favour the court can decree specific performance”.’ As trust lawyers will …
Continue reading "Trusts: Enforcing private purpose trusts"
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Mary Ashley explores a recent case considering the options by which trustees can extend their powers ‘In circumstances where trustees want to act outside of the powers which they expressly have, they will want to analyse closely what it is that they are seeking to do and therefore, the best way to do it – …
Continue reading "Trustees’ powers: Beyond the deed"
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Ian Macdonald provides a comparison of the English and Scottish procedures for executors ‘The IHT400 and supplementary IHT forms request exact details of the estate assets and English executors have to complete all the forms in full. Scottish executors have however already set out all the assets and values in the C1.’ As in many …
Continue reading "Estate administration: North of the border"
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Mark Blackett-Ord reports on an unusually successful award for adult children under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 ‘If the first instance judge concluded that the amount that he was provisionally awarding to each claimant was not excessive for that claimant’s maintenance, and that it was all the estate could afford, then …
Continue reading "1975 Act claims: Accommodating need"
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Justin Holmes suggests a modern take on decided cases is needed to reflect the intentions of the 21st century testator ‘The 21st century problem which arose for the trustees was that, on the face of the will, the gifts to Enid and Victoria in clause 5 might both have failed, and in that event there …
Continue reading "Wills: A question of construction"
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Naveed Ali outlines the development of the constructive trust principle to aid cohabitees ‘The court should establish the intentions of the parties with evidence; where intention cannot be inferred, the court may impute an intention which the parties may never have founded.’ The regulation of proprietary rights after a breakdown of marriage is extensive: the …
Continue reading "Constructive trusts: Keeping up with the Jones"
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Elaine Roche reviews Gill Steel’s book on the residence nil-rate band Residence Nil Rate Band: Practical Thoughts on its Use and Application Gill Steel ISBN13: 9780244693756 July 2018, published by LawSkills Ltd £48.00 In April 2017, the residence nil-rate band (RNRB) came into effect, some ten years after the Conservative Party first announced that they …
Continue reading "Book review: Shining a light into murky corners"
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Josh Lewison asks whether AI could be used effectively to write wills ‘In my view, the introduction of AI to the will-drafting landscape is unlikely to give rise to any greatly complex new problems in liability or redress.’ According to a recent survey, a large proportion of members of the public would not want to …
Continue reading "Will drafting: Tech support"
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