It is a regrettable truth that even close family members cannot always be trusted to do the right thing, as illustrated by a case dealing with a wayward son who was appointed as attorney over his elderly mother's financial...
When a person relies on a promise made by another person to their detriment, the law provides a mechanism by which the promise made can, when the circumstances permit, be legally enforceable. Such cases are particularly...
Yet another attempt by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to persuade the court that a gift of a property from parent to child should be a 'gift with reservation of benefit' has failed. Where any asset is gifted from a person...
When a man's wife died, his decision to execute a new will less than a month later led to a legal challenge. Two earlier wills had made his wife his principal beneficiary and provided that, should she predecease him, his...
When a woman transferred the lease on her Knightsbridge flat into a trust for the benefit of her two sons, the intention was to provide a benefit to them which would, over time, be free of Inheritance Tax (IHT). Such gifts...
As the law currently stands, employers and pension funds are permitted to exclude civil partners from spousal benefits under a pension scheme the rights to which accrued prior to 5 December 2005, which is when Section 1 of...
When a family business is handed down and ownership is split between two or more members of the next generation, the result can all too often be discord. Normally, this can be resolved by one party buying out the other, but...
The judge came down hard on a Singapore-based businessman who first told his ex-wife that she was entitled to more than €2 million from the sale of company shares, before seeking to reduce that figure a few months later to...
Warners Solicitors in Tonbridge and Sevenoaks has been one of the first firms in the country to secure membership to the Law Society's Wills & Inheritance Quality Scheme (WIQS). Warners Solicitors underwent rigorous...
A recent tax case shows how important it is to be able to prove one’s claims when dealing with the tax authorities. It involved a couple who moved to Belgium in 2001, having left the UK before 6 April that year. They were...