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Musings From Manchester: Risk management

In a time of uncertainty Geoffrey Shindler urges private client practitioners to get back to basics ‘While we are in this world of uncertainty it would appear that two years is not enough uncertainty and we may have the added benefit of a transitional period.’ We may, or we may not, in Chinese terms, live …
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Law Reform: Willing to change?

Professor Nick Hopkins and Spencer Clarke offer an overview of the Law Commission’s consultation paper on the law of wills ‘Central to the Law Commission’s project is the principle that the law should do all it can to enable people to ensure that their testamentary intentions are given effect.’ The Law Commission published its consultation …
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Court Of Protection: Aiming to enable

Martin Terrell and Louise Mathias-Williams set out the lessons from the Public Guardian’s recent decision over severance applications ‘The element which unites the cases is the consistency of District Judge Eldergill’s approach in endeavouring to ensure that a donor’s intention as to how their affairs may be managed in the future is respected and upheld …
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Protectors: An invaluable resource

Gavin Ferguson and Chris Hards discuss the rise in the use of protectors ‘The role of protectors in offshore jurisdictions has undergone a significant change in the few decades since their introduction.’ The offshore fiduciary industry began to see protectors being introduced during the mid to late 1980s. The rise in the popularity of their …
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Tax: Trustees take note

Finance Bill 2 contains changes to the taxation of non-doms and more. Alex Ruffel and Tom Barber give the lowdown ‘Finance Bill 2 introduces protections for certain settlements. This involves the creation of two new concepts: protected foreign-source income and “tainting”.’ The UK government announced on 13 July 2017 that it will introduce a second …
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Mental Capacity Act 2005: A balancing act

Iain Managhan examines recent case law on the capacity test to revoke a lasting power of attorney ‘Although the respondent was capable of understanding the information relevant to the decision to revoke the lasting power of attorney (LPA), and was able to retain this information and communicate her decision, she was not able to use …
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Mutual Wills: Can a mirror will be changed?

John Dickinson assesses whether a proprietary estoppel solution can replace the need for a binding contract ‘Under the doctrine of mutual wills, there is a need for a legally binding contract as opposed to a mere moral obligation not to depart from the terms of the original will.’ HHJ Matthews, sitting as a judge of …
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Donationes Mortis Causa: Where there’s no will, there’s a way

Edward Cumming and Timothy Sherwin bring the doctrine of deathbed gifts up to date ‘It is in the very nature of a donatio mortis causa (DMC) that it is conditional on the donor’s eventual death, and that it is the donor’s death which perfects the gift.’ In this article, we consider donationes mortis causa (DMCs), …
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Musings From Manchester: My word is my bond

Geoffrey Shindler asks why HMRC should not be held accountable when it breaches a legally binding agreement ‘It worries me that we have legislation which is so one-sided that HMRC can make agreements which, presumably, are intended to be legally binding, and ignore them later.’The holiday season has brought about confirmation that as a country …
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Trusts: A fair result?

Mark Pawlowski examines the presumption of a resulting trust where assets are owned by a company ‘Where the funds for purchasing the assets come from the company controller, the likely approach (absent any contrary intention) is to apply resulting-trust theory so as to treat them as beneficial owner.’ In what circumstances is it open to …
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