Musings from Manchester: Change for the better?

Geoffrey Shindler appeals for a reliable and efficient probate process at this time of uncertainty The reforms will ultimately lead us to one probate registry and everything will be processed therein – Birmingham is the chosen place. We are now living in a world where we struggle to find the adjectives to describe it – …
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Charities: Parish duties

A parish council also acting as a charity trustee can result in confusion over where duties lie. Ian Blaney and Michael Anderson discuss an illuminating case Parish councils cannot be a trustee of a charity established for ecclesiastical purposes, nor accept a gift of property for the relief of poverty. Parish councils (or in Wales, …
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Offshore: Substance-aware

Laila Arstall puts forward a case scenario setting out the common questions asked by trust and corporate services professionals on the economic substance rules in Guernsey In any year Hold Co does not receive income from its shareholdings then, although it will continue to be classified as a pure equity holding company, it will not …
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Forfeiture: A deviation from the norm

Forfeiture does not always apply in the case of unlawful killing. Charisse Crawford discusses the lessons learned from Challen Section 2(3) FA 1982 provides where an applicant stands convicted of an offence of which the unlawful killing is an element, an application for relief from forfeiture must be made within three months of the conviction. …
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Trusts: A benefit or a burden?

Harriet Irving and Duncan McGowan explore the changing landscape of trusts in the light of 5AMLD 5AMLD expands the TRS net from previously only catching ‘taxable’ trusts to now requiring trustees of all relevant trusts to register on the TRS, unless they fall within a specific exclusion. Recent years have seen an ever-increasing drive on …
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Capacity: A nuanced approach

Adam Stewart-Wallace outlines lessons from Hinduja on conducting litigation Hinduja v Hinduja [2021] involved the determination of two essentially independent, but independently interesting, applications, one regarding the appointment of the claimant’s daughter as litigation friend (the regularisation application), and the second regarding a privacy application made by the defendants (the privacy application). The court’s treatment …
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Wills: Prevention rather than cure

Duncan Bailey and Imogen Trafford discuss best practice to guard against undue influence claims HHJ Matthews considered that the advice and explanation given by the solicitor was sufficient to free the deceased from any influence that might have been exercised by the first defendant. Coles v Reynolds [2020] demonstrates some of the appropriate safeguards that …
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Probate applications: Future-proofing probate?

Digital accessibility is now more important than ever. Richard Honey and Abbie Tarrant discuss the MoJ’s consultation paper on mandating online professional probate applications HMCTS hopes that the online process will be more efficient and reliable than the current paper-based system, saving cost and time. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) published its consultation paper, Non-Contentious …
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