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The Supreme Court has ruled that a woman’s sons will have to pay inheritance tax on her pension fund because she had not drawn upon it during her lifetime. The court heard evidence that the deceased woman and her former husband had been directors of a company. Shortly before her death, she transferred funds from
Machins Solicitors has achieved seven practice area recommendations in the latest edition of Legal 500 UK including one Top Tier ranking in the area of family law for the second year running. Among the areas of expertise in which the firm is regarded includes corporate and commercial, employment and family as well, dispute resolution, private
The High Court has settled a dispute between a couple who were separating and needed to value the shares in their company. The case involved Solent Garage Services Ltd and its two directors, Claire Lewis and Philip Clarke. The couple had established the garage while living together and bringing up their three children. They were
HM Revenue & Customs has rejected more than 30,000 applications from employers wishing to access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, according to research carried out by The Times. The newspaper says HMRC believes many of the applications may have been attempts to defraud the system, in which the government pays a percentage of the wages
A company has been granted a worldwide freezing order on the assets of a debtor who had put forward a “concocted case at trial”. The case involved GML International Ltd & Others v Harfield (2020). GML and the other claimants had brought proceedings to recover significant sums of money paid to Harfield, who resisted by
A landlord has been ordered to repay a large proportion of rent to the tenants of his house in multiple occupation (HMO) because he did not have the appropriate licence as required by the Housing and Planning Act 2016. The tenants had paid approximately £28,600 rent and sought a rent repayment order. The First-tier Tribunal
The government has announced that landlords will have to give six months’ notice if they wish to evict tenants who are struggling to pay their rent during the Covid-19 pandemic. It has also extended the ban on evictions until 21 September. The six-month notice rule will apply in all cases except those involving serious issues
Insolvency experts are expecting a large rise in the number of companies going out of business towards the end of the year. The insolvency trade body R3 surveyed its members and found and that an overwhelming majority (93.7%) of respondents expect corporate insolvency numbers to increase. More than half (56.1%) of the respondents expected corporate
GKN Aerospace has won an appeal over a break clause for a flat it had leased. The issue arose after GKN leased the flat from Duncan Investments Ltd in 2015. The lease contained an option to renew, and a break option entitling GKN to terminate on giving at least two months’ notice. During the second
A survey of more than 24,000 employees has revealed widely differing attitudes between white and ethnic minority employees towards career progression, pay and discrimination. The research was carried out by Business in the Community (BITC) and published as Race at Work: Black Voices Report. It found that seven out of 10 of black respondents wanted