Court Of Protection: Aiming to enable

Martin Terrell and Louise Mathias-Williams set out the lessons from the Public Guardian’s recent decision over severance applications ‘The element which unites the cases is the consistency of District Judge Eldergill’s approach in endeavouring to ensure that a donor’s intention as to how their affairs may be managed in the future is respected and upheld …
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Protectors: An invaluable resource

Gavin Ferguson and Chris Hards discuss the rise in the use of protectors ‘The role of protectors in offshore jurisdictions has undergone a significant change in the few decades since their introduction.’ The offshore fiduciary industry began to see protectors being introduced during the mid to late 1980s. The rise in the popularity of their …
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Musings From Manchester: Risk management

In a time of uncertainty Geoffrey Shindler urges private client practitioners to get back to basics ‘While we are in this world of uncertainty it would appear that two years is not enough uncertainty and we may have the added benefit of a transitional period.’ We may, or we may not, in Chinese terms, live …
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Law Reform: Willing to change?

Professor Nick Hopkins and Spencer Clarke offer an overview of the Law Commission’s consultation paper on the law of wills ‘Central to the Law Commission’s project is the principle that the law should do all it can to enable people to ensure that their testamentary intentions are given effect.’ The Law Commission published its consultation …
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Mental Capacity Act 2005: A balancing act

Iain Managhan examines recent case law on the capacity test to revoke a lasting power of attorney ‘Although the respondent was capable of understanding the information relevant to the decision to revoke the lasting power of attorney (LPA), and was able to retain this information and communicate her decision, she was not able to use …
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Tax: Trustees take note

Finance Bill 2 contains changes to the taxation of non-doms and more. Alex Ruffel and Tom Barber give the lowdown ‘Finance Bill 2 introduces protections for certain settlements. This involves the creation of two new concepts: protected foreign-source income and “tainting”.’ The UK government announced on 13 July 2017 that it will introduce a second …
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Mutual Wills: Can a mirror will be changed?

John Dickinson assesses whether a proprietary estoppel solution can replace the need for a binding contract ‘Under the doctrine of mutual wills, there is a need for a legally binding contract as opposed to a mere moral obligation not to depart from the terms of the original will.’ HHJ Matthews, sitting as a judge of …
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