Musings From Manchester: Taxing times for HMRC

Tax collection is not a moral crusade but the enforcement of black letter law, argues Geoffrey Shindler Lawyers and the rule of law they uphold are the ones caught in the pincer movement.The next time you are driving in excess of the speed limit, and admit it we all do from time to time, the …
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Global Financial Crisis: When should trustees litigate?

Nicholas Holland and James Ratcliffe consider whether there are grounds to bring claims for investment losses after the Court of Appeal’s decision in Rubenstein The problem for a trustee will be to know when a ‘good’ claim is good enough, and in most cases they should expect that the first stage will be to seek …
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Tax: Aiding cross-border giving

Neasa Coen explains the impact of a new definition of charity on tax reliefs To mitigate the damage done by the unfit manager the charity can move that person into a role where they will not have the same financial influence. The Finance Act 2010 saw the introduction of a new definition of ‘charity’ for …
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Trusts And Divorce: Piercing the corporate veil

Prest shows that family judges must uphold company law when considering what constitutes the matrimonial pot, as James Copson discusses Where Family Division judges have fallen into error time and again has been their reliance on what Cumming-Bruce LJ referred to as ‘abundant authority’ in Nicholas that the veil can be lifted if there are …
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Trustees: Duty to act reasonably

Sofie Hoffman and Sharon Kenchington examine the lessons from Hughes v Bourne on applying for the court’s blessing Conflicting views and values among the beneficiaries can be particularly marked where the ownership of the family business is divided between different branches of the family or where one sibling has a much greater role to play …
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Charities: Make your case

Vicki Bowles sets out the implications of Charity Commission v RNIB on payments to trustees It may be worth exploring whether an amendment to the constitution is appropriate to establish a commitment to such payments where necessary and in the interests of the charity, or whether one-off permission is more appropriate in an individual case. …
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Switzerland: The Swiss connection

David Wilson and Julie Wynne analyse Swiss divorce case Rybolovlev v Rybolovlev, which has implications for assets held abroad Under the ordinary matrimonial property regime, the court can, upon request, subject the disposal of certain matrimonial assets to the other spouse’s consent. On 26 April 2012, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court rendered a decision on …
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Deathbed Planning: A guide for advising the terminally ill

Julia Rangecroft concludes her two-part series on the best approach to deathbed planning Simply leaving all to the surviving spouse or civil partner without further thought as to what might be done to improve the ultimate IHT position on the death of the spouse, can lead to missed opportunities. The first article in this series, …
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