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Disputing a Will can be a very costly exercise

Record numbers of inheritance disputes are going through the courts as modern family structures and rising house prices push more families to contest unfavourable outcomes.  One recent case has seen a family lose out after legal action involved two brothers who have run up fees of more than their entire inheritance by disputing a stepmother's share of their father’s estate. The trend towards increased inheritance disputes has been attributed to a number of factors.  Increasing numbers of so-called ‘blended’ families where divorced parents re-marry is one such factor, with original family members…

Maximising your opportunities for inheritance tax reliefs

As the end of the tax year approaches on 5th April, it's a good time to make sure you're maximising your opportunities for inheritance tax reliefs.  This year, as well as taking advantage of exempt lifetime gifts and transfers, property owners should also look at how the new transferable residence nil rate band fits their profile. The Residential Property Nil Rate Band Under the new rules, when a person leaves a residential property to direct descendants there will be an additional nil-rate band for inheritance tax purposes – the transferable…

Animal charities win battle in fight over inheritance case

A woman, who was cut out of her mother’s £500,000 will, has lost out to three animal charities at the Supreme Court in a landmark judgment this month. In 2004, Melita Jackson died and left most of her estate to three animal charities and completely cut her only child, daughter Helen Ilott, out of her will. Mrs Ilott was originally awarded £50,000 by a judge, which was almost tripled on appeal. The three charities challenged that increase, stating that people should be free to choose their beneficiaries, and the court…

No rabbits, just selfies come out of Hammond’s hat in pre-Brexit budget

The first steps towards preparing the UK for a post-Brexit future were announced by Chancellor Philip Hammond in his Spring Budget, which avoided headline-grabbing shake-ups and tax breaks in favour of economic stability.   In the run-up to the announcement, sterling slipped to a seven-week low, reflecting the uncertainty surrounding the move towards exiting the European Union, but the Chancellor pointed to robust economic growth, record levels of employment and a falling deficit, saying real GDP had grown by 0.7% in the final quarter of 2016 and by 1.8% over the…

Unmarried couples need to protect themselves

A landmark victory in the Supreme Court has seen a Northern Ireland woman win a share of her former partner’s pension, with commentators saying it’s likely to add impetus to the drive for greater rights for unmarried couples.  But, in the meantime, cohabitees should face up and formalise arrangements, rather than keeping their fingers crossed.   The victory of Denise Brewster involved her claim for a survivor’s pension after her long-term, live-in partner Lenny McMullan died suddenly, shortly after they had become engaged.  He had paid into Northern Ireland’s local…

Security

In nearly all matters where money is being borrowed or lent, security over assets will be required. Security gives the lender the comfort that, in the event the borrower cannot repay the loan, the security can be enforced and the lender can recover the outstanding loan. The most well known example of such security is probably where a residential property is purchased using a bank loan, and as security the bank is granted a mortgage of the purchased property. In business, it is common for entities such as limited companies…

Beyond Pokémon: property test posed by virtual reality games

Experts across the world are focusing on property laws and how they will stand up to the shift to augmented reality gaming, following on from the global success of Pokémon Go. Businesses who found themselves inadvertently hosting the augmented-reality creatures were divided in their response to the Pokémon craze. Some welcomed the traffic, but for others the game posed the risk of potential trespass, or unwanted disturbance at the very least. More virtual reality games are expected to follow, which will see digital life further collide with reality, already raising…

Safeguarding design is a priority for small business

Cheaper registration fees are an opportunity for small businesses and designers to secure greater protection for their intellectual property in future, as well as being a route to protection in the UK post-Brexit. A registered design is one of the options available from the Intellectual Property Office, alongside trade marking, patenting and copyright. It protects the visual appearance of a product including the shape, texture, materials, colour and pattern and gives the right to prevent others from using the design for up to 25 years through a renewal process every five years. …

Getting rocky relationships through the New Year

The month of January can be a rocky one for families, in the post- Christmas period, which is often followed with news of unhappy couples who decide to call it quits, as family lawyers receive a surge of enquiries in the New Year.   According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the overall rates of divorce are continuing to fall. There were 111,169 divorces in 2014, a decrease of 3.1% compared with 2013 and 27% lower than 2003. Compared with data from 2004, divorce rates were…

When is Vacant Possession, vacant possession?

Two recent cases have highlighted the need to be (as ever) very careful when exercising a break clause. A break clause may only be exercised if any conditions attached to it have been satisfied. A break clause will often contain a condition that the tenant must give vacant possession. In the cases of (1) Riverside Park Limited –v- NHS Property Services Limited [2016] and (2) Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government –v- South Essex College of Further and Higher Education [2016] the two tenants had left partitions in…

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