A trust exists where a person who has legal ownership of something (‘the object of the trust’) is obliged to act with respect to the object of the trust for the benefit of some other person or persons (‘the beneficiaries’).…
There is a common belief that fairness is a concept that pervades the law, including tax law. However, a recent tax case shows that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) do not necessarily agree. The case involved a man who joined…
A couple’s assets on divorce can include matrimonial property – i.e. assets acquired during the course of the marriage – and non-matrimonial property, which is commonly defined as property acquired before the relationship began or property that was inherited by…
The Supreme Court has ruled that a daughter cannot succeed to a tenancy after the death of her mother because the right of succession belongs to her estranged father. The woman’s parents became tenants in 1967 and the freehold of…
A bankrupt who is entitled to obtain a pension simply by asking for it cannot seek to have it protected from his creditors, the High Court ruled recently. The bankrupt had a pension policy which he was entitled to take,…
A recent case shows how a person who is intent on being difficult can obstruct matters for a long period. In the case in point, the court (after a legal battle lasting eight years and involving 25 court hearings) eventually…
When a museum came up short in its ability to fund a pension scheme deficit, the question of the status of the museum’s exhibits became of interest: if they belonged to the museum trust, they could be sold to fund…
Two adopted children stand to benefit from a £3 million trust fund despite the fact that the trust was set up when adoption did not automatically confer inheritance rights. The High Court so ruled, applying European Convention articles against discrimination…
The days when secret passwords were the staple of children’s books and not a part of everyday life are long past. Increasingly, the issue of what to do about Internet passwords and, to a lesser extent, Internet property is proving…
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has fined a firm of estate agents after a contractor who was working for them was killed when he fell from a roof. Roger Jary, 79, was a contractor for Morris, Marshall & Poole…