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Election time provides Geoffrey Shindler a chance to reflect on two intertwined issues for practitioners: the digital age and the growth of HMRC’s powers ‘If you look back over the Finance Acts over the last decade, something only to be done with a stiff drink in one hand and a cold towel in the other …
Continue reading "Musings From Manchester: Staying in remote control"
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Paul Davidoff considers the EU Succession Regulation and whether it has fulfilled its purpose ‘The focus of the regulation is therefore on determining which state’s succession law is to apply to a person’s estate, which member state’s courts have jurisdiction over EU-related aspects and the introduction of the “European Certificate of Succession.”’ When Christopher Columbus …
Continue reading "EU Succession: Where are we now?"
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The Woodland Trust v Loring [2014] demonstrates the importance of determining the testator’s exact intentions. Marilyn McKeever explains ‘As most practitioners do not possess a fully functioning crystal ball it would be prudent to discuss with a testator what their intentions are in general terms in order to understand the “purposes and values” intended to …
Continue reading "Wills: How big is my nil rate band?"
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Sarah Lee sums up the main provisions of the Care Act 2014 for private client practitioners ‘By applying one framework for decision-making it is hoped that inconsistencies between areas will reduce and standards should become more uniform. This should mean that adults can be more certain of their entitlements and of the role the local …
Continue reading "The Care Act 2014: Ways and means"
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Taylor v Bell indicates that the court has unfettered discretion to vary periodic payments under the Inheritance Act 1975. Richard Selwyn Sharpe discusses ‘Executors faced with such an application in future should be astute to examine the financial needs and resources of an applicant, while not being overzealous as to the time and expense incurred …
Continue reading "Inheritance Act 1975: Lesson plans"
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Andrew Willins and Sebastian Said examine a case which has lessons on liability and its proper limitation for trustees ‘Courts in the BVI and the Cayman Islands have rightly set their face against reducing the general law duties to such a level as to render them meaningless.’It is comparatively rare to encounter judgments from the …
Continue reading "Offshore Trustees: Are you watching closely?"
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Mark Studer reflects on the lessons from Wright v National Westminster Bank Plc [2014] ‘In the events which happened… Mrs Wright as spouse of the settlor would not be able to receive income from the trust fund at any time after its constitution while Mr Wright was still alive.’ Prior to the decision of the …
Continue reading "Equitable Mistake: After Pitt v Holt – the law in practice"
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As Parliament hastens to wrap up business before the election, Geoffrey Shindler advocates a careful, considered pace ‘Will there be problems arising from the hurried passage of the first Finance Act of 2015 and would those problems have been avoided without the demands of the parliamentary schedule?’We must all be grateful that we live in …
Continue reading "Musings From Manchester: Slow and steady wins the race"
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Justin Holmes examines Re OB, The Public Guardian v AW, which sheds light on when LPA attorneys can and cannot use their principal’s funds to improve their own properties ‘Disconnection between the expectations of family members on the one hand, and the law of undue influence on the other, is a fertile source of litigation …
Continue reading "LPAs: Unfair care?"
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Kennedy v Kennedy [2015] expands the horizons of the doctrine of mistake. Steven Kempster and Sarah Aughwane explain ‘If a trustee makes a causative mistake of sufficient gravity, the transaction is voidable even if the mistake is as to the tax consequences.’ Two years ago the Supreme Court heard the joined appeals in Pitt v …
Continue reading "Mistake: Fault lines"
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