The Supreme Court has today reached an important verdict surrounding whether a verbal promise can legally be enforced. What Was the Case About? A multigenerational family of dairy farmers, the Guests, found themselves arguing before the highest court in the land - the Supreme Court - over an unwritten promise that the family farm would go to the son that helped them on the farm. The family’s eldest son, Andrew, left school at the age of 16 and worked long hours on the farm for nearly 33 years, being paid a basic wage. Sadly, the relationship between Andrew and his parents, David and Josephine ..read more

Our Legacy Protection team answer some of our most frequently asked questions surrounding Inheritance Act claims and their impact on higher education institutions (HEIs). In our previous article, our Legacy Protection team explored some of the legacy protection issues that most commonly crop up for HEIs and identified Will disputes as a key area of concern. We highlighted the case of Knipe v British Racing Drivers Motor Sport Charity & Others, involving a claim brought by the deceased's partner under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (Inheritance Act). We now ..read more

What would happen to your business if you became critically ill, ended up on life support due to a serious accident or illness, suffered a mental breakdown, or were diagnosed with dementia? These are only a few examples of both sad and unfortunate circumstances that could affect any one of us, as no one knows what their future holds. Mental health problems are a particular issue in our society today, with one in six of the UK working population having mental health concerns affecting their ability to work or make decisions.  If you run a business alone and lose capacity, or are unable to ..read more

Will disputes are a real concern for those who have taken the trouble to prepare their Will. Although the starting point is that you can leave your assets to whomever you choose in your Will, the Inheritance Act* nonetheless acts as a safety net for eligible claimants who can demonstrate that they require more financial provision than they are due to receive under the Will, which in many cases is nothing. Who Can Bring an Inheritance Act Claim? These people are all automatically eligible: spouses or civil partners including former spouses/civil partners children, including adults, and thos ..read more

In a growing aging population, many of the elderly are suffering long-term health conditions which affect their decision-making. Disturbingly, something being reported more frequently is predatory marriages; where a vulnerable person is induced to marry for the financial benefit of their new spouse.  How Can This Happen? Predatory marriages are often carried out in secret and the vulnerable person's loved ones may not be aware that a marriage has taken place. This is alarming in itself, but there are also significant financial consequences for the beneficiaries of the vulnerable person's ..read more

Gifts made in your lifetime may be subject to inheritance tax on your death, depending on who the recipient of the gift is and their relationship to you, the value of the gift and when it was made. Inheritance Tax on Gifts Lifetime gifts can include gifts of money, personal goods, properties and shares. If you give away more than £3,000 in one tax year (see below), the gift becomes what is called a Potentially Exempt Transfer (PET). The value of the PET is included in your estate for inheritance tax purposes for the seven years following the date of the gift. Once you have survived for seven y ..read more

Did you know that the way you share ownership of jointly-held property really matters when making your Will? The consequence of not recording this correctly can mean your chosen people miss out on their inheritance. The recent case of Dunbabin & Ors v Dunbabin explains why. A Costly Mistake Angela and John Dunbabin, a married couple, had four sons, Michael, Timothy, Simon and Adam. In 1983 the couple bought their family home jointly but there was no record stored of how their individual  beneficial interests in the property were owned, either as: tenants-in-common - meaning that the ..read more

When the first lockdown began in March 2020 the execution of Wills became problematic. Fears about mortality in the light of the pandemic meant that large numbers of people decided it was time to put their affairs in order, in case they succumbed to coronavirus. At the same time, actually meeting anyone, outside of your immediate family, was not possible, and so the question of how to sign a Will validly became pressing. Section 9 of the Wills Act 1837 provides that, in order to be validly executed a Will must be signed by the testator "in the presence of two or more witnesses present at the ..read more

When drafting your Will, choosing your executors is a key decision and one which is not always given sufficient thought. What Does an Executor Do? Executors are responsible for administering your estate after you die. This involves: identifying and gathering in all the assets paying off any outstanding debts such as credit cards and mortgages reporting to HMRC and calculating any inheritance tax, as well as any capital gains and income taxes if applicable obtaining the Grant of Probate advertising for any creditors producing detailed estate accounts and making distributions according to your ..read more

We recently considered the basics of Will drafting and the succession of Mrs Otto's share of her private dental practice, Gnasher & Brace (G&B). Here, we will explore a type of relief from inheritance tax - 'Business Property Relief' (BPR). The personal representatives of Mrs Otto's estate might claim BPR to try to reduce the amount of Inheritance Tax (IHT) that might be payable by Mrs Otto's estate. An Overview of Business Property Relief IHT is charged at a rate of 40% on estates that have a gross value that exceeds the nil rate band allowance of up to £325,000 (or up to £650,000 on ..read more