Blog
2025 in review: Under construction - Tax investigations
Krishna Mahajan
24 July 2017
Protecting vulnerable will makers – will the Law Commission review go far enough?
Earlier this month the Law Commission published its Consultation Paper on ‘Making A Will’. The consultation seeks feedback from the public and professionals on a number of provisional proposals for reforming the law of wills. This follows a public consultation in 2013 and responds to concerns that the law “is not as clear or protective as it could be”. The aim of this project is to produce “recommendations for a more modern, improved law of wills”, with the key objectives being to (i) support the exercise of testamentary freedom, (ii) protect testators, and (iii) increase clarity and certainty in the law.
14 June 2017
Wills and inheritance: 10 Cross-border Tips
A long qualified colleague of mine recalls a time when he rarely encountered private clients with cross-border concerns. Those ‘unusual’ cases only involved just one international asset – a holiday home in Spain or France. Gone are those days. Indeed, scarce now are the days in central London private client practice when we work on client matters that have no international dimension.
30 May 2017
The difficulties (but not impossibility) of challenging wills prepared by solicitors
In recent years we have noticed an increase in claims being brought which challenge the validity of a will. The reasons for this increase have been previously commented on by many, but the general feeling is that an increasing elderly population, an increase in the diagnosis of medical conditions such as dementia, and even perhaps a growing sense of entitlement by hopeful beneficiaries are all contributing factors.
11 May 2017
The residence nil rate band - do I qualify and should I change my Will?
A key promise in the Conservative Party’s manifesto prior to the last election was an increase in a married couples’ “nil rate band” (the amount they can ultimately pass to their children or others free of inheritance tax ) from £650,000 to £1 million. The Party had picked up on a growing disquiet that the nil rate band hadn’t kept up with house price increases which were pushing more and more families into the inheritance tax net. The standard nil rate band has been capped at £325,000 per person until 2021.
11 May 2017
Contesting a forged or fraudulent will
A look at the case of a young widow who faked the will of her late husband.
