Trusts and Estates

In ‘From the courts’ on p2, there is a note of the Court of Appeal decision in Bradbury and others v Taylor and another [2012] EWCA Civ 1208. Although Lloyd LJ observed in his judgment that the case raised no issues of law, he did make..

Both IHT and CGT have special and specific rules for dealing with property held in trust. Not surprisingly these probably work best in the most straightforward cases, where there is a formal trust instrument, such as a Deed or will, which clearly..

For tax purposes, it can be important to ascertain whether or not a person is carrying on a ‘business’. For IHT purposes, business property relief may be available at the rate of 100% for a ‘business or an interest in a..

Where family circumstances are complex, and substantial and valuable assets are concerned, litigation under the 1975 Act is likely to be complex. Strong feelings within the family may also add to the complexity. At the same time, decisive judges..

Proprietary estoppel is still a developing area of the law, though the principles are becoming clearer as a result of developing case law. Typically, a proprietary estoppel claim arises following a death. The basis of the claim will be that the..

The Upper Tribunal decision in Buzzoni v HMRC has now been released. The Upper Tribunal has dismissed the taxpayer’s appeal against the decision of the First Tier Tribunal to the effect that the gift of a leasehold flat was a gift with..

The Editor is grateful to will Twidale of Boodle Hatfield for the article on the Bird Charitable Trustees case in the Jersey courts. The point is an interesting one, which does not seem to have come before the English courts recently. Of course the issues raised when a trustee seeks information from current or former trustees are very different to those which may arise where beneficiaries seek information, and the trustees are protected by a ‘Londonderry’ clause (Re Londonderry’s Settlement (1965) Ch 918), in relation to issues raised by beneficiaries. The Editor has never seen anything similar intended to protect trustees against each other and is very doubtful whether such a clause would be valid. Visit www.boodlehatfield.com for further information.