A woman’s second will in which she declared that she wanted to leave most of her estate to a close friend has been declared invalid because it wasn’t properly executed. It means that a number of charities will now inherit even though it’s unlikely that she wanted her money to pass to them. The case
A court has refused to return an abducted child to his mother even though he was taken illegally by his father. The court accepted that it was against the boy’s interests to be sent back to his mother and that he had made it clear that he did not want to live with her because
Thousands of tenants have been registering to buy their homes over the last few months. It follows the government announcement that 1.3 million housing association tenants should qualify for the Right to Buy scheme, which had previously only been available to people in council owned properties. The scheme allows tenants to buy their homes at
Marks & Spencer has lost its appeal against a court decision that it was not entitled to a refund after exercising a release clause in a commercial property lease. The case involved four floors of office space at The Point in London. M&S had a commercial lease which was due to expire in 2018. The
There were several important developments in employment law in 2015. These are some of the most significant. Travel time can be ‘work time’ The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that if employees don’t have a fixed place of work then the time they spend travelling from home to their first job of the day
Children want more say in what happens to them when their parents get divorced, according to research carried out for the family law group, Resolution. The survey also revealed that 82% said they would prefer that their parents separated if they were unhappy rather than stay together. Resolution quotes one young person as saying: “Don’t
A university has won its appeal against a decision that it discriminated against a disabled employee when calculating his pension rights. The case involved an employee at Swansea University who had to retire due to ill health at the age of 38. His hours had been reduced gradually over several years to accommodate the effects
Intestacy rules govern how a person’s estate is dealt with where a valid will has not been made, or if the will is not sufficient by itself. If you die without a will the people who will receive your assets will be decided from a statutory list of priority, as described below: If you die
Inheritance tax (IHT) is the tax which is payable when a person dies. IHT is not payable in all situations. Below is a brief outline of some of the basic rules in relation to IHT Standard Nil Rate Band Each person has a tax free amount (‘nil rate band’) of £325,000. This means that when
This is a basic outline of the rules relating to inheritance tax and gifts made during a person’s lifetime. The rules may differ in certain situations, such as where gifts are made into a trust. When a person’s estate is valued to calculate whether inheritance tax is due, any gifts that the deceased person made