Tax and Financial Planning

The theft of a disk from HSBC in Switzerland, data from which eventually found its way to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), has led to the conviction of a Berkshire...

Failing to make formal arrangements over who should own property is a frequent cause of family disputes. One such case concerned an industrial unit, which was owned by a...

When a road traffic accident results from the road being in a dangerous condition due to being in poor repair, the court is required to consider the extent of the...

Property can be owned in joint names as joint tenants, which means that each co-owner owns an undivided share in the whole property (and would therefore be the sole owner...

When a person no longer has the mental capacity to make a valid will (‘testamentary capacity’ in legal terms), an application can be made for a ‘statutory will’ to be...

When a 43-year-old Spanish-born man and his wife divorced 15 years after their marriage in Spain, having lived in England since 2004 and raised two children (now 12 and 10)...

A bequest in a will can fail for a number of reasons, one of the commonest of which is that the beneficiary is uncertain. For example, a bequest to a...

For anyone who aspires to a life ‘messing about on the water’ and getting tax relief on the required expenditure, a recent tax case may prove something of a dampener. ...

A pregnant woman who was injured when the horse she was riding veered through a hedge and threw her onto the road has lost her claim for damages for her...

Making a bequest to a charity is relatively common. However, sometimes this can backfire spectacularly, as happened in the case of a Cheshire man who bequeathed a property to the...