April 2015 #165 – Law Journals

Musings From Manchester: A lack of consistency

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Geoffrey Shindler attempts to find the stance of key political parties on inheritance tax ‘One thing that is certain is that you will hear an awful lot more of “paying your fair share” of tax, whatever that might mean, and a good deal more about the evils of tax avoidance, although to my mind it …

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Testamentary Capacity: Banking on Banks v Goodfellow

Walker v Badmin has clarified the correct test for testamentary capacity. Araba Taylor explains ‘The clarity offered by the Walker judgment is very welcome, given the conflict between earlier first instance decisions and what the judge described as the “rather ambivalent view” in the textbooks.’It is now settled: the test for testamentary capacity in probate …

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Charities: Power and faith

Paul Ridout outlines the key points of the draft Protection of Charities Bill ‘The committee is expected to report during March and the draft legislation may undergo significant changes before being enacted (probably after the general election).’Announced in the Queen’s Speech in June 2014, this proposed new legislation is intended to beef up the Charity …

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Trusts: Too close for comfort

Stephen Boyd analyses Watts v Watts, a case that demonstrates the importance of having independent trustees ‘The judge found that “it was inherently improbable, in the extreme, that Arthur would have wanted to give his money away; he had substantial commitments and, at the time, no gainful employment.”’As Gutman said to the Generalissimo in Tennessee …

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IHT: A fair share?

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Peter Nellist queries the method by which HMRC conduct property valuations for inheritance tax purposes ‘IHT is a tax that many who will be paying it regard as unjust as it taxes accrued wealth that has already suffered income and capital gains tax… It is an added injustice to restrict reliefs without fully publicising why …

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Tax: Practically perfect in every way?

James Hardaker and Daniel Baker look at a case which demonstrates the difficulties trustees face when dealing with tax on royalties ‘Where trustees receive income which is to be accumulated or which is payable at the discretion of the trustees or any person, that income is taxable at the special trust rate or at the …

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Court Of Protection: Protecting the vulnerable from financial exploitation

Christine Cooper examines a case which highlights the preferred approach of the court when considering the variable wishes of those without mental capacity ‘Money was being withdrawn from GW’s bank account at a time when he did not have the capacity to manage his financial affairs.’ This article examines the approach of the Court of …

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1975 Act Inheritance Claims: The price of estrangement

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Basil Dearing sets out the lessons from Wright v Waters [2014] ‘When taking into account all s3 factors, the judge’s valued judgment was that Patricia Wright’s conduct outweighed all of the factors in her favour.’ In the recent case of Wright v Waters, a daughter’s claim against the estate of her mother, who had, by …

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