Banks v HMRC [2020] WTLR 19

The appellant taxpayer, Arron Banks, appealed against a notice of determination issued by HMRC. This notice assessed Mr Banks as owing inheritance tax of £162,945.34 on donations of £976,781.38 that he and companies that he controlled made to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) between October 2014 and March 2015 (the donations).

It was common ground that no UKIP MPs were elected at the 2010 UK General Election. UKIP did not therefore meet the statutory definition under s24(2) IHTA 1984 and so the Donations were not treated as exempt from VAT. The appellant argued that this different...

Bagguley v E [2020] WTLR 1

The claimant was the Property and Affairs Deputy for the defendant (E). The claimant applied for authority for buccal cell samples to be taken from E for the purposes of DNA testing to establish whether E was the father of three adults (D, P, and A).

E was expected to die within the year though his health was not currently critical ([28]). The procedure for collecting the sample was probably no more intrusive than assisting E to clean his teeth.

Earlier DNA tests were undertaken on E’s instructions in 1991. They indicated a 99.9% probability of paternity, provided no close ...

Perry v Neupert & ors [2020] WTLR 199

The claimants were the widow and the daughter of the deceased who died on 8 March 2015. The deceased executed an English will (“the Will”) dealing with his UK assets and appointing a Swiss lawyer (the 1st defendant) as his executor and trustee. The widow (the 1st claimant) was the sole beneficiary of the English estate. There was a breakdown of relations between the 1st claimant and the 1st defendant. The daughter (the 2nd claimant) supported the widow. The claimants applied for an order under section 50 of the Administration of Justice Act 1985 removing the 1st defendant as executor and...

Parsonage v Parsonage & ors WTLR(w) 2020-02

Bashir v Bashir WTLR(w) 2020-01

Kingsley v Kingsley WTLR(w) 2019-13

AB v CD & ors [2019] WTLR 1083

AB was a professional trustee of two discretionary trusts created by the late parents of D1, a Will Trust for the benefit of their issue, and a Grandchildren ‘s Trust for the benefit of their grandchildren (i.e. the four children of D1 and D3, and the two children of D1 ‘s late sister). D1, D2 and D3 were between them the other trustees of the trusts.

Three of the children of D1 and D3 had already received shares of the Grandchildren ‘s Trust, but the other three grandchildren had not. Another trust fund, comprising the proceeds of sale of a property intended by the settlors for D...

ABC & ors v KJL [2019] WTLR 1101

The claimants were the trustees of a number of trusts relating to an English estate, including a fund created by an appointment in 1978 (the T fund). The claim was for rectification or alternatively rescission of a deed of appointment made in 2010 relating to a sub-fund of the T fund. The defendant was the beneficiary of the relevant sub-fund. He did not oppose the claim. HMRC were aware of the proceedings but chose not to take part other than to request that certain authorities be considered by the court.

In 1930, the settlor had settled property on a strict settlement which incl...

Dawson-Damer & ors v Taylor Wessing LLP & ors [2019] WTLR 1111

The claimants are beneficiaries of a number of Bahamian trusts; Taylor Wessing LLP (TW) act as the solicitors for the trustees of a number of these trusts.

On 14 August 2014, the claimant served a subject access request (SAR) on TW, requesting disclosure of the personal data relating to them held by TW as the solicitors for the trustees They were unsatisfied by the disclosure provided to them by TW, and brought proceedings under s7(9) of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA 1998).

The matter came before the Court of Appeal ([2017] 1 WLR 3255), which upheld the claimants ‘ appe...

FL v MJL [2019] WTLR 1171

The Applicant, who was the sole deputy for property and affairs of his brother MJL, made an application for

(i) ratification of small gifts previously made on behalf of MJL and

(ii) authority to make prospective substantial gifts on behalf of MJL.

Both he and three siblings each provided witness statements in support. MJL, who was in his sixties, was unmarried and had no children. He had suffered a cardiac arrest ten years previously and was in a persistent vegetative state. His estate was in excess of £17m (the larger proportion of which was comprised in an investme...

PBC v JMA & ors [2019] WTLR 1193

This was an application by the applicant, PBC, the son and attorney under a lasting power of attorney of the patient, JMA, to authorise various gifts exceeding £7m in value. The purpose of the gifts was to achieve a reduction in inheritance tax (IHT) liability. JMA‘s total assets were estimated to be worth around £18,650,000, held in the form of investments and five paintings.

JMA was 72 years old, suffered from early onset dementia, and required full time care. She was unable to converse and did not recognise PBC or her care staff. It was agreed (and found) that she did not have ...

Payne & anr v Tyler & anr [2019] WTLR 1221

By his will the deceased, who died in November 2010, left his estate as to one half to his widow. She, by a deed of variation complying with s142 Inheritance Tax Act 1984 ( ‘IHTA ‘) ,varied the will in order to settle her half share on a discretionary trust of which the beneficiaries were herself, her children and remoter issue. The trust included a power of appointment in favour of the beneficiaries.

In 2012, the widow was in need of additional income. The trustees proposed making an appointment to the widow giving her an irrevocable life interest in the trust fund. The trustees ...

Rea v Rea & ors [2019] WTLR 1231

The claimant (Rita) was the daughter of Anna Rea (T) who died on 26 July 2016. The defendants (Remo, Nino, and David) were T’s other children. Rita propounded a will dated 7 December 2015 (the 2015 Will). The defendants defended on the basis that T had lacked testamentary capacity to execute the 2015 Will, that she did not know and approve of its contents, and that her execution of it was procured by undue influence and fraudulent calumny. They counterclaimed for probate propounding an earlier will dated 29 May 1986 (the 1986 Will). At trial they had abandoned the challenge based on lack...

Rittson-Thomas & ors v Oxfordshire County Council [2019] WTLR 1285

In 1914 and 1928 Mr Robert Fleming conveyed land to the Defendant for use as part of a school pursuant to the School Sites Act 1841 ‘to be applied as a part of the playground of the said School and for no other purpose whatever ‘. The interest in any land subject to reverter vested in the claimant beneficiaries.

In 2006 the defendant relocated the school to new premises and marketed the old premises for sale. One parcel including part of the site gifted in 1914 was sold in 2007. The defendant maintained that it intended to apply the proceeds of the sale of the former school site t...

Rialas v HMRC [2019] WTLR 1251

During the relevant tax years, R was resident and ordinarily resident, but not domiciled, in the United Kingdom. He was a Cypriot national. He held 50% of the issued shares of ACM, a company incorporated in England and Wales. R worked full time in ACM, which carried on a successful business as a fund manager. C held the other 50% of the shares of ACM.

In order to sell his shares in ACM, R decided to acquire C ‘s shares in ACM using a trust and a company resident outside the UK and borrowed funds, also from an offshore company. R established the R Trust, a discretionary family trus...

Rogge & anr v Rogge & ors [2019] WTLR 1305

The first and second claimants had four children, three of whom were the defendants. The third defendant suffered a serious brain injury while playing polo and was left unable to walk unaided. The first and second claimants purchased two contiguous flats in London, one for themselves and the other for the third defendant. They also sought a house in the countryside which would serve both as a retirement home for themselves and as a place for their children and potential future grandchildren to visit, with an area designed to meet the needs of the third defendant. In February 2011 they id...

Sabados v Facebook Ireland [2019] WTLR 1361

The Claimant, who was a British citizen, was born in Bosnia but had lived in London since 1992. She formed a romantic relationship with a childhood friend called Mirza Krupalija (“Mirza”), following his divorce, which lasted six years until his death in March 2016. Their relationship was for the most part conducted at long distance, although they spent around seven weeks a year together in Bosnia. Mirza used a social media platform operated by the Defendant to post his music, photographs, poems and other personal data. According to the Claimant, some of the data on Mirza‘s Facebook page ...

Scarle v Scarle [2019] WTLR 1369

A husband and his wife were both found dead at their home in October 2016. Both were found to have died of hypothermia, and the wife‘s body in a more advanced state of decomposition. They left jointly-owned property which fell to be distributed differently depending on which of them died first. The parties were the executors of their respective estates.

s184 Law of Property Act 1925 provides as follows: “In all cases where… two or more persons have died in circumstances rendering it uncertain which of them survived the other or others, such deaths shall (subject to any order of th...

The Quentin Skinner 2005 Settlement L & ors v HMRC [2019] WTLR 1389

On 1 December 2015 three settlements (“the Skinner Settlements”) disposed of 55,000 ordinary shares (“the Shares”) in a company (“the Company”) at a gain. Under each Skinner Settlement a member of the Skinner family had been given an interest in possession in the whole of the settled property on 30 July 2015.

Following the disposal of the Shares, the Skinner Settlements and their respective Beneficiaries (“the Beneficiaries”) claimed entrepreneurs ‘ relief (“ER”) under s169J of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 (“TCGA 1992“) applying a reduced rate of CGT (10%) on gains qu...

Re Twah [2019] WTLR 1405

Allied Services Trust (A), a registered charity and authorised trust corporation, applied to be appointed as deputy for property and affairs of an incapacitated adult, TWAH. A filed evidence of its authority to act as a trust corporation, and articles, details of the regulation from the Charity Commission, and its insurance policy. The court considered the application and gave guidance on the appointment of trust corporations linked to a charity.

Held, allowing the application and appointing A as TWAH ‘s deputy:

1) Applying the guidance in Various Incapacitated Persons and ...