Risk: Watch out for the small print

Peter Nellist has words of caution for practitioners seeking investment advice for clients ‘There is usually a choice between the two forms of investment management. Forty years ago a solicitor nearly always had an informal advisory portfolio management agreement in place with the client’s stockbroker.’Professor John Kay said in the Financial Times on 9 January …
This post is only available to members.

Musings From Manchester: The importance of being word perfect

Geoffrey Shindler questions whether our current use of grammar and punctuation is evolution or degeneration ‘The bad news is that whoever drafted s13 of the new prescriptive form of the lasting power of attorney was not educated properly, in my view. Thus, if you look at s13 it is headed “Who do you want to …
This post is only available to members.

Sdlt: Taxing times ahead

Duncan Bailey and David McGurnaghan examine the impact of the SDLT changes for private clients ‘The higher rates of SDLT will apply to individuals who are purchasing additional residential properties (such as second homes and buy-to-let properties) where exchange of contracts took place after 25 November 2015 and completion is effected on or after 1 …
This post is only available to members.

Forfeiture: Crime doesn’t pay

Henderson v Wilcox [2015] sheds light on uncertain aspects of the forfeiture rule. Sarah Playforth analyses the case ‘If a forfeiture issue arises, it is important to look in detail at the nature of the assets and the interests, particularly when and why they were created and whether or not they are affected by the …
This post is only available to members.

Tax: Victory for the taxpayer

Mary Ashley looks at Lobler v HMRC [2015], which has an interesting take on rectification ‘Taxpayers will now have to consider whether they should bother to go through the expense of rectification where the only party they are concerned about is HMRC, or if instead they should rely on Lobler.’ As the saying goes, ‘hard …
This post is only available to members.

Inheritance Act 1975: Importance of judicial discretion

Simrun Garcha discusses the lessons from Goenka v Goenka [2014] ‘If a court is satisfied that the disposition of the deceased’s estate failed to make reasonable financial provision for the applicant, it has the power to issue orders under s2 IPDFA 1975.’The High Court recently considered the constantly evolving area of law associated with inheritance …
This post is only available to members.

Wills: For the record

Clarke v Brothwood [2007] indicates the circumstances in which ‘clerical error’ allows rectification. Siân Hodgson reports ‘Rectification may be possible under s20, but the court will need to see evidence as to the nature of the error, how it arose and what the testator’s true intentions were.’ Until 1983 there was no power to rectify …
This post is only available to members.