Blog
Lost in translation? Spring clean your cross‑channel documents
Sophie Voelcker
27 April 2026
Lost in translation? Spring clean your cross‑channel documents
It may feel like an administrative burden to keep personal affairs in order, be that your Will, financial or estate planning. That burden can be even greater when the rules of two (or more) countries are relevant. We regularly help French nationals living in the UK to take steps to plan their personal affairs, given that the legal and administrative rules of two countries will be relevant to their legal documents.
27 April 2026
Spring statement 2026: What it really means for taxpayers
The 2026 Spring Statement, delivered on 3 March 2026, was intentionally modest in ambition and delivery. Reflecting the government’s stated preference for a single major fiscal event each year, the Spring Statement was used primarily to set out the economic context and respond to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s latest forecasts, rather than to announce wide ranging tax reform. Stability and predictability were clearly prioritised over new policy intervention.
21 April 2026
Protecting your UAE assets: the role of Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Wills in international estate planning
In an increasingly mobile world, many individuals now hold assets across multiple jurisdictions while living somewhere entirely different from where they were born or began their careers. Despite growing awareness of international estate planning, it is still surprisingly common for expatriates and former UAE residents to assume that their English Will will automatically govern succession of everything they own worldwide. In practice, that assumption can lead to delay, uncertainty and unintended outcomes—particularly where assets are located in countries with very different succession frameworks.
11 December 2025
From Separation to Succession: Protecting your Pets
According to the PDSA’s 2024 report on pet populations, over 51% of UK adults currently own a pet. To many their pets are not “just pets”, but beloved family members and a core part of their family unit. If something unforeseen should happen in the future, most would want the best for their pets. Often, however, when an unplanned major live event happens, such as a divorce or the death of a pet owner, thought has not been given to what should happen to the pets.
9 December 2025
Infected Blood Scandal and IHT treatment following the recent Budget
While the Autumn Budget brought tax rises and gloom for some, it delivered relief and comfort to the victims and families of the Infected Blood Scandal, as the Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that she would “exempt all payments from the Infected Blood scheme from inheritance tax (‘IHT’) regardless of the circumstances in which those payments are passed down”. This decision finally resolves a longstanding technical ‘secondary transfer’ flaw that had created a secondary injustice for affected families. The changes ensure that compensation awarded for a public failure will no longer be diminished by unfair taxation.
