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The Privy Council has given welcome guidance on the rights of trustees of Jersey and Guernsey law trusts. Nick Robison reports ‘It will comfort beneficiaries (and settlors) knowing that assets settled into trust may not be attacked by a third-party creditor of the trustee, without consideration of the trustee’s role.’ On 23 April 2018, the …
Continue reading "Trustees: Who is liable?"
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Geoffrey Shindler urges practitioners to express themselves ‘The cost of valuations, if indeed valuations should be required in this type of estate, is, I suggest, out of all proportion to the requirement of obtaining probate when no IHT is payable.’ Your country needs you! At this moment in our momentous history we must all rise …
Continue reading "Musings from Manchester: The quest to simplify the practice of IHT"
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Sheila Rusike and Jo Summers examine worldwide precedents for accepting unconventional wills ‘The fact that the text message was unsent only demonstrated that the deceased wanted it to be found after his death and not before, further supporting the argument that he wanted it to express his final wishes.’ The Law Commission’s recent consultation paper, …
Continue reading "Wills: Can an unsent text message be a valid will?"
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Tim Harrison analyses recent research into the workings of IHT and examines the future agenda for reform ‘Testators and beneficiaries had quite a limited understanding of inheritance tax. Most were aware of the basic principles of the tax but few knew the details of either the threshold or the spouse exemption.’ On 4 July 2015 …
Continue reading "IHT: Simplification is not a simple process"
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John Dickinson considers how the High Court approves expenses in estate accounts ‘The court pointed out that it would be wasteful if, in every case, for their own protection, the personal representatives were to be obliged to engage the costs assessment system before being able to enter the sum concerned in their estate accounts for …
Continue reading "Probate: Breaking the deadlock"
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Geoffrey Shindler looks into the post-Brexit future ‘I am hoping that cometh April 2019 we shall have the ability to develop trust and estate law free from any fears of continental invasion.‘ Robert Browning, not on the subject to Brexit but rather giving us his Home-Thoughts, From Abroad, once stated: Oh, to be in England …
Continue reading "Musings from Manchester: Who will stand up for the trust?"
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How should we consider the EU Succession Regulation and UK/EU private client law in light of Brexit? Phineas Hirsch discusses ‘Following the UK‘s eventual exit from the EU, the ability for English testators to elect expressly in their will for the law of their nationality to apply to their succession under Art 22 of the …
Continue reading "Brexit: Opting out"
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The Court of Appeal has provided beneficiaries with an alternative avenue for seeking disclosure against a trustee. Sophie Holcombe explains ‘The Court of Appeal expressly stated that it would not be correct to refuse to exercise the court‘s discretion to order compliance “because this disclosure could not be obtained from the trustees under the governing …
Continue reading "Disclosure: Uncovering trustees‘ reasons"
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Amanda Noyce outlines the lessons from a case concerning how a disputed share of a settlement fund should be assigned ‘The question that the Public Trustee sought to have determined was whether, according to the terms of the settlement, David‘s share accrued to the share that was held for his brother, Jeffery, and so was …
Continue reading "Wills: Generation gain"
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Failure to advise clients of risk can have serious financial consequences. David Greene and Dominic de Bono consider a recent equitable compensation claim ‘Jackson LJ held that this was a category 2 advice case, noting that this was not a “conventional conveyancing situation“. While the purchasers had taken the decision to purchase a property in …
Continue reading "Remedies: A costly error"
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