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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), …
Continue reading "Donationes Mortis Causa: Where there’s no will, there’s a way"
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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 …
Continue reading "Musings From Manchester: My word is my bond"
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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 …
Continue reading "Trusts: A fair result?"
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Potential beneficiaries excluded from a will or trust may have a claim under human rights. Scott Taylor outlines recent case law ‘For the claimants to succeed they had to show not only that they were victims of an infringement of the European Convention of Human Rights but also that the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) …
Continue reading "Discrimination: Adopting a position"
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Paul Saunders looks at when trustees should submit details of trust income to HMRC ‘It is in the interest of HMRC staffing levels for checking returns to have a wide definition of “mandated” although, of course, the wider the definition the more resources may be required to actively police compliance.’ What does ‘mandated’ mean when …
Continue reading "HMRC: Have you mandated?"
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Geoffrey Shindler reflects on changing practices and definitions in tax law ‘At what point do we derive less out of the state than we put into it? Only 50% of the country are truly taxpayers. The other 50% take more out of the state than they put into it.’It is now that time of the …
Continue reading "Musings From Manchester: Summer escape?"
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Keith Wallace makes the case for using a trust corporation ‘Any risk-averse professional firm should be seeking to consolidate its trusteeship work centrally to avoid regulatory and reputational exposure for any non-compliance.’UK trusts are said to number 170,000, according to gossip around the register of trusts being compiled by HMRC. Most of these will be …
Continue reading "Trusts: A long-term solution"
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The courts will sometimes give effect to oral agreements for the transfer of land. David Sawtell examines recent case law ‘The courts have afforded some considerable protection to trustees and beneficiaries of land from the inadvertent creation of informal rights over property. The unanimity principle has achieved some prominence as a consequence.’ In order to …
Continue reading "Constructive Trusts: More than words?"
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Mark Pawlowski considers the case for accepting backwards tracing as part of English law ‘A debt is an asset in the hands of the creditor and so can provide a basis for tracing in relation to the creditor’s assets.’ In Bishopsgate Investment Management Ltd (in liquidation) v Homan [1994], the Court of Appeal held that …
Continue reading "Equitable Tracing: Overdrawn accounts and backward tracing"
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The Cayman Court has provided clarity over what happens in the event of absent or defective protector consent. Robert Lindley explains ‘There was potential for payments to beneficiaries and trustees, investment decisions, and the administration of business assets to be considered invalid as they had been made without the authority of all of the trustees.’Any …
Continue reading "Trusts: 30 years’ flaw"
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