It is a grim prospect but after a death someone must deal with the estate and carry out the wishes of the deceased in accordance with their will. This is the responsibility of the executor. More than one person can be...
As a business owner or director, you wear many hats and separating work-life from home-life can be an important part of switching off. However, have you ever considered what would happen to your business if you became...
As we live longer, more adults are marrying a second or third time. Divorce among the over-60s, otherwise known as ‘Silver Splitters’, has risen by a third in the past decade. While most adult children are happy that...
With a combination of rising house prices and a freeze on the threshold at which estates pay inheritance tax means that many more households fall into the tax net than was once the case. In this article we look at how, with...
Recent changes to intestacy rules highlight the need for making a will and assessing inheritance tax implications. On 1 October 2014, the Inheritance and Trustees Powers Act 2014 (“the Inheritance Act”) brought in...
In a cautionary tale for those who care for elderly relatives, the heirs of a dementia sufferer are in danger of losing their inheritance after failing to convince a Land Registry Adjudicator that the value of the man's home...
When an elderly woman died and left her entire estate to her window cleaner, rather than the nephew who had looked after her for a very long period of time, a challenge to her Will was always likely. The nephew claimed that...
The High Court has come to the aid of a family whose grief at the death of a gifted entrepreneur in a motorbike crash was compounded by the discovery of a 'clerical error' in his £6.9 million Will. Before the businessman's...
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...