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...
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...
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...
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...