June 2011 #127 – Law Journals

Divorce And Trusts: What happens to the family silver?

Katharine Landells reviews Jones, the latest case to show the court’s attitude to inherited assets on divorce ‘The fact that wealth is inherited and not earned does not justify it being treated differently from wealth accrued during the marriage.’ Since the sea change in family law following White v White [2000], it has been a …

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Opinion: Weighing it up?

Duncan Bailey talks through some current concerns of practice ‘I find that the compliance element of most of my work is the biggest part of the job carried out for the client. Creating a discretionary trust and transferring assets to it is relatively straightforward, but the number of forms and compliance documents that are needed …

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Wills: Attack on testamentary freedom?

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After Ilott v Mitson testators should be careful when excluding children from their will, as Emma Carey explains ‘The appeal and cross-appeal was heard in 2009 and the judge, Eleanor King J, found not only that the district judge had failed to apply the law properly, but also that he had erred in balancing the …

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Trustees’ Duties: Review and inform

Harriet Atkinson and Robert Laird Craig discuss a case that emphasises the high standards the courts expect from trustees towards beneficiaries ‘The court highlighted that trustees often had to balance a portfolio between a life tenant and a remainderman.’ The recent case of Jeffery v Gretton and Russell [2011] examined the duty imposed on trustees …

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IHT: When in doubt, disclose

Matthew Hansell provides pointers on the disclosure of tax avoidance schemes and IHT ‘Effective since 6 April 2011, details of new and innovative schemes and arrangements, which seek to mitigate or avoid an inheritance tax charge on transfers of property into a relevant property trust, will have to be disclosed to HMRC.’ In the 2004 …

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Charities: Settling the tab

White v Williams shows the complications that can arise without specific charity law advice, as Paul Ridout relates ‘A charitable trust acts only through the person of its trustees, and when they borrow money the trustees are simply entering into a personal obligation to repay sums borrowed.’ March saw the publication of the latest chapter …

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Tax: A hardy perennial

Helen Ratcliffe examines Taube, which concerns the classification of corporate receipts and discovery principles ‘Most classification difficulties about receipts in trusts are concerned with distributions from companies. This stems from the fact that the cases have applied company law rules that govern the position of the company, its creditors and shareholders rather than considering the …

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Trusts: The presumption of advancement?

Catherine Paget looks at the Northall case, which sheds light on who inherits joint bank accounts ‘If a joint account is opened with funds solely provided by one party, the provisions of the deceased’s will or the operation of the intestacy rules will often mask the fact that no specific instruction has been given to …

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