Blog
Rebuilding lives after brain injury: the role of the Court of Protection
Jemma Garside
2007 was a milestone year in inheritance Tax (IHT) planning for married couples with the introduction of the ‘transferable nil rate band’. Not only did that sound the death knell (almost) for the nil-rate-band-discretionary-will-trust but the traditional use of a deed of variation did an about face.
Over the years, I’ve encountered many couples in a relationship spanning 20 years or more, often with children together, who have never married nor have any intention of doing so. When challenged as to reasons for not marrying, there’s rarely expressed any aversion to marriage in principle. It’s just, “We’re happy as we are; we don’t need a piece of paper to prove the strength of our relationship”.
Sibling concern over equal treatment can linger well into middle age and beyond; it reveals itself after a parent’s death or during their old age through arguments over who has had what and who’s going to get what. We’re not legally obliged to leave our estate to our children in equal shares or, indeed to leave them anything at all.
Jemma Garside
Lord Carter of Haslemere CB
Nikola Southern
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