Tax: A tax that needs to be kept under review

Carolyn O’Sullivan highlights what the private practitioner needs to know about ATEDs ‘ATED receipts for 2013/14 totalled £100m, a reported five times more than the government had originally anticipated in its impact assessment when it introduced the charge, suggesting that many decided not to de-envelope existing structures.’ Historically, non-UK domiciled individuals (non doms) have purchased …
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Illegality And Trusts: Public policy or rule of law?

Gareth Keillor and Rosanna Pinker consider the lack of clarification from the Supreme Court on the illegality defence ‘The mere existence of illegal activity will not be enough to defeat a claim; there must be a sufficiently close connection between that unlawful activity and the claimant’s pleaded case.’ The application of the illegality defence, otherwise …
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Constructive Trust Claims: Excuses, detriment and imputation

Don McCue examines the lessons from Curran v Collins [2015] ‘Two issues currently need to be resolved as a matter of some urgency… First, in no-agreement cases, whether the Rosset threshold requirement should be relaxed. Second, the question of inference or imputation needs clarification.’ Claims on constructive trust principles to a share of the beneficial …
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Probate Claims: A hard case to make

Bromley v Breslin [2015] exposes the possible cost consequences of an application under CPR 57.7(5) to challenge the validity of a will. Charles Holbech explains ‘Counsel for Anne requested a determination by the judge, as a preliminary point, as to whether the costs’ protection afforded by CPR 57.7(5) applied to cross-examination of witnesses other than …
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Trusts: An extraordinary jurisdiction

Georgia Bedworth analyses a case which considers whether the English court can vary a foreign trust under the Variation of Trusts Act 1958 ‘The Variation of Trusts Act 1958 and Hague Trusts Convention apply wherever a trusts matter comes before the English court, even if the other country has not ratified the Convention.’Private client lawyers …
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Executors: A costly sibling clash

Wilby v Rigby [2015] has useful practitioner points on applications for the removal of executors. Nicholas Pointon reports ‘The key to understanding the court’s decision on costs lies in analysis of the offers being made by Mrs Wilby in her attempts to reach settlement. Mrs Wilby proposed that both executors stand down and be replaced …
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Musings From Manchester: The modern memento mori

Geoffrey Shindler delves into the psychology of will-making and its link with the seasons ‘It seems more natural to be talking about wills and death in the winter time than it does in the summer.’Summer time brings mixed emotions for trusts and will practitioners. Looking out over the gloriously sunny and warm Manchester town centre, …
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Trustees: Lost founder’s rights

Rosamond McDowall looks at Labrouche v Frey [2016], which serves as a reminder of the different types of breaches of trust and their remedies ‘The court found that under Swiss law, the agreement between Hugo and Olga could exclude the rights of the heirs of her estate, and that the ability to enforce it survived …
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