July/August 2012 #138 – Law Journals

Wills: Focus first

Anna Bruce-Smith sets out the lessons to be learned from Wharton v Bancroft ‘Mr Justice Norris went out of his way to commend counsel for keeping the number of witnesses to a minimum by weeding out the periphery testimonies, in particular those who seemed keen only to air their grievances against either White Horse or …

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Trusts: Offshore assets and the divorce pot

Leela Hemmings examines the approach of the UK divorce court to offshore trusts and trustees in BJ v MJ ‘Relying on the court’s authority pursuant to the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, the judgment reviewed the various forms of trusts and discussed how each would be treated in divorce proceedings.’ Often the biggest unknown in financial …

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Probate: Warring executors

D R Sheridan LLP v Higgins serves as a timely reminder of the difficulties when acting for executors who fall out, as Mike Robinson discusses ‘A bad situation that developed between executors ended up being made worse by the solicitors acting for them, resulting in delay in the administration of the estate, a mess which …

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Tax: Justice and reason?

Katie Hawksley finds that Rogge v HMRCC summarises how the settlor-interested rules work in the UK and offshore ‘The judgment touched on the interaction between a settlor’s liability to income tax and that of the trustees (and the complications which can arise as a result), raising some interesting points for private client practitioners to bear …

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Pets: Creature comforts

Duncan Bailey considers the best way to make a pet bequest ‘A quick online search reveals a mass of sensationalist reports that have frequented the national media over the last few years, citing owners leaving five and six-figure bequests to their pets.’The question of whether leaving money to pets is a good idea certainly divides …

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Musings From Manchester: It’s better to give

Geoffrey Shindler looks at charitable donations for tax purposes ‘Back in the olden days it was a matter of governmental testosterone that a government had the courage to enact its own proposals, especially its Budget proposals.’Like the poor, with whom it is intimately connected, charity is always with us. Never more so than just now. …

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Financial Provision: Big money, short marriage

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In Lilleyman the divorce cross-check was applied to a claim for reasonable financial provision for a widow, as Martin Holdsworth and Louise Tatton relate ‘Equality of treatment may not necessarily lead to equality of outcome.’ The recently reported cases of Lilleyman v Lilleyman [2012] and Lilleyman v Lilleyman (costs) [2012] concerned a widow’s application for …

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Court Orders: Revoking the rule

Setting aside court orders concerning payment from one party to another can be risky, as David de Ferrars explains ‘Mrs Morris’ counsel sought to argue that the receipt of the £1.481m by Mrs Morris as a purchaser for value without notice continued to govern her title to those monies, notwithstanding the subsequent rescission of the …

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