Chadwick & ors v Lypiatt Studio Ltd & anr [2019] WTLR 1
Spring 2019 #174This case concerned the ownership of the property and copyright interests in the bulk of the works of Lynn Chadwick (‘the Artist’), one of the leading British sculptors of his time and whose works are exhibited at leading galleries and museums around the world. He died on 25th April 2003, but his estate was not yet wound up because of a dispute. The claimants were the Artist’s executors, who brought the issues before the court but did not take an active part in the proceedings. The first defendant was a company that had been owned by the Artist and his wife (‘the Company’), which claimed...
Gelber & anr v The Sutherland Foundation & ors [2019] WTLR 29
Spring 2019 #174The claimants and two of the defendants were all grandsons of the 11th Duke of Marlborough and beneficiaries of a settlement made on 13 October 1981. The trustees of the 1981 settlement are a Guernsey foundation and one of its council members. The foundation was not a trust corporation within the meaning of s68(18) Trustee Act 1925.
Amongst the trust assets were 166 acres of land at Woodstock, Oxfordshire which in 2018 was granted planning permission for residential development, subject to a condition that the trustees give a binding covenant to make a heritage contribution of 70%...
HMRC v Parry & ors [2019] WTLR 45
Spring 2019 #174Shortly before her death the director of a company (S) transferred the funds from a company pension policy acquired by her on her divorce from her ex-husband and known as a s32 buyout policy (the s32 policy) to a personal pension policy (PPP) issued by AXA. At the same time S nominated her two sons as her beneficiaries in relation to the death benefit payable under the PPP. If the s32 pension had remained in the company scheme, on her death a sum would have been payable to S’s estate which would have been chargeable to IHT. S’s sons were the residuary beneficiaries under S’s will, made p...
Hogarth v HMRC [2019] WTLR 79
Spring 2019 #174The appellants were trustees of a life interest trust, the income of which was mandated to the life tenant and passed directly to him. HMRC served a notice under s8A of the Taxes Management Act 1970 to file an income tax return on the trustees. When no return was filed, HMRC assessed penalties against the trustees for failure to file the return by the due date. The trustees appealed to the First-Tier Tribunal against the decision of HMRC to reject their appeals, arguing that they thought a return had been filed by their previous agents, that given that the return was a nil return (since ...
Investec & anr v Glenalla & ors [2019] WTLR 95
Spring 2019 #174The Background
The Privy Council heard eight appeals arising from the management of the Tchenguiz Discretionary Trust (“TDT”) between March 2007 and October 2008.
The TDT is a discretionary trust governed by the law of Jersey; in the period in question it had two trustees which were governed by Guernsey law: Investec Trust (Guernsey) Limited (“Investec”) and Bayeux Trustees Limited (collectively “the Trustees”). In July 2010 the Trustees were replaced as trustees of the TDT by Rawlinson & Hunter Trustees SA (“R&H”), a company incorporated in Switzerland.
The ...