June 2013 #147 – Law Journals

Musings From Manchester: Who regulates?

Geoffrey Shindler questions the rationale of regulating will writing but not estate administration ‘Professional competence, among the will writing profession and those who are not professionals but who practise will writing, is to be regulated; those who carry out estate administration are not to be regulated. Why are the latter “excused boots”, as they used …

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Statutory Residence Test: Objective, clear, certain?

Hannah Herbert weighs up the pros and cons of the new statutory residence test ‘The aim of the legislation was to reflect the law as established in existing statute, case law and HMRC guidance… Now that the SRT is in place, most commentators agree that it is an improvement on the old system.’ When considering …

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Probate: A blast from the past

Andrew Francis discusses Gudavadze v Kay, which sheds light on a rarely used jurisdiction of the court to pass over those who would normally be entitled to a grant of representation ‘Gudavadze v Kay makes it clear that s116 is a very useful tool in the probate practitioner’s work box where the absence of a …

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Budget 2013: Deal with liabilities before death

Dominic Ribet reports on whether the amendments to IHT legislation contained in the recent Budget will lead to any unintended consequences ‘The resulting economic impact of changes to the IHT legislative framework could be far greater than the HMRC has anticipated.’ The 2013 spring Budget saw George Osborne take aim at hitherto uncontroversial arrangements that …

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Equity: To the rescue

Lisa Springate and Dina El-Gazzar examine the importance of the landmark decision in Re The Shinorvic Trust ‘With modern family relationships and changed social attitudes, obligations to support financially now extend to a much wider category of people. For example, illegitimate children, stepchildren, and same-sex partners.’ The decision in the recent case of Re The …

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Duty Of Care: What is included in your retainer?

Duncan Bailey reviews a case that discusses to what extent a law firm is responsible for unforeseen personal tax consequences stemming from a corporate transaction when private client advice is not part of the remit ‘The introduction of a reasonably competent private client tax team would have led to them advising Mr Swain and his …

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Trust Protectors: Obligation to indemnify?

Manx case IFG International v French clarifies the extent to which trust protectors can be indemnified out of trust assets. Seth Caine explains ‘Counsel for the trustees had argued that any indemnity to which Mr French was entitled as a former protector was limited, and related only to any costs and liabilities incurred by Mr …

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Wasted Costs: Flag it up

Sharma v Hunters indicates the concerns the court takes into account when dealing with a wasted costs order, as Kate Mundy and Russell Simpson report This case relates to the estate of Mr Hari Ram Sharma (Mr Sharma) who died on 12 December 2010. Mr Sharma had been a patient of the Court of Protection …

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