September 2017 #189 – Law Journals

Wills: The prodigal daughter?

Ruth Hughes explores the notion of ‘doing the right thing’ in a will ‘In the absence of evidence to the contrary the court was entitled to assume that P would want to put their affairs in order by making a will and that they would want to do the right thing and not leave their …

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Donationes Mortis Causa: Where there’s no will, there’s a way

Edward Cumming and Timothy Sherwin bring the doctrine of deathbed gifts up to date ‘It is in the very nature of a donatio mortis causa (DMC) that it is conditional on the donor’s eventual death, and that it is the donor’s death which perfects the gift.’ In this article, we consider donationes mortis causa (DMCs), …

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Musings From Manchester: My word is my bond

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Geoffrey Shindler asks why HMRC should not be held accountable when it breaches a legally binding agreement ‘It worries me that we have legislation which is so one-sided that HMRC can make agreements which, presumably, are intended to be legally binding, and ignore them later.’The holiday season has brought about confirmation that as a country …

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Trusts: A fair result?

Mark Pawlowski examines the presumption of a resulting trust where assets are owned by a company ‘Where the funds for purchasing the assets come from the company controller, the likely approach (absent any contrary intention) is to apply resulting-trust theory so as to treat them as beneficial owner.’ In what circumstances is it open to …

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Discrimination: Adopting a position

Potential beneficiaries excluded from a will or trust may have a claim under human rights. Scott Taylor outlines recent case law ‘For the claimants to succeed they had to show not only that they were victims of an infringement of the European Convention of Human Rights but also that the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) …

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HMRC: Have you mandated?

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Paul Saunders looks at when trustees should submit details of trust income to HMRC ‘It is in the interest of HMRC staffing levels for checking returns to have a wide definition of “mandated” although, of course, the wider the definition the more resources may be required to actively police compliance.’ What does ‘mandated’ mean when …

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The 1975 Act: Discretion to dispose

Siân Hodgson considers the differing statuses of spouse and cohabitee in claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 ‘While one judge may exercise his or her discretion in a different way from that of another judge (making 1975 Act claims inherently risky), it is the factors which a judge takes into …

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Nuptial Settlements: Consistency is key

Claire Blakemore and Jemma Thomas give the lowdown on trusts and divorce ‘There are examples of cases where the trust was not managed consistently with all of the trust documents. This can be damaging to those seeking to protect trust assets on divorce.’ Establishing whether the court is likely to view the trust as a …

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