Changes To The Law On Wills And Intestacy

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The Inheritance and Trustees Powers Act 2014 came into force in October 2014 and made a number of changes to the law on wills and intestacy.

Intestacy arises when somebody dies without having made a Will. If you die intestate then the law will state what will happen to your Estate rather than you.

If your circumstances are not straightforward, for example, you may have children from a previous marriage, it is all the more important to make a Will.  If you do not have a Will in place, you should consider whether you would be happy for your estate to be distributed in line with the new Intestacy Rules.

In many cases, a Will is needed to restore balance between competing obligations and responsibilities for which a person is often seeking to provide when they write a Will.

For more information, please contact our Private Client department for expert and professional advice.

Inheritance Tax; Budget Changes

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The Chancellor has outlined a promise he says he could not fulfil in coalition. From April 2017, parents can pass £1m on to their children free of inheritance tax. A “family home allowance” worth £175,000 per person will be added to the existing £325,000 tax free allowance from April 6, 2017.

This means that individuals can pass on assets worth up to £500,000, including a home, without paying any Inheritance tax at all. The full benefit of the relief, however, will not be felt until the tax year 2020/21, owing to the fact that there will be a phasing in period of the additional relief from 2017/18.

George Osborne said: “The wish to pass something onto your children is the most basic, human and natural aspiration there is”.

Please follow this link to view the UK government’s latest document

Please contact us for further expert advice regarding.

Problem With Transferring Property To Family Members

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For many people their home is their only or main asset and such people are often concerned about that asset having to be sold in order to meet the costs of care. Often people seek to transfer their homes to third parties (usually their children) to avoid them being brought into assessment, and perhaps not surprisingly there are anti-avoidance rules to prevent such an arrangement being abused.

One businessman has recently found out the risks of transferring his property to his son the hard way when his son’s bankruptcy left the family’s substantial buy-to-let property portfolio exposed to his son’s creditors.

The son’s name appeared on the title deeds of numerous properties for which his father had largely paid. When the son was declared bankrupt, his creditors focused on the portfolio as a potential means of recovering what they were owed.

A judge found that a purported declaration of trust had been post-dated and that both father and son had given unreliable evidence in an attempt to protect what they viewed as family assets. The ruling meant that the portfolio formed part of the son’s property in bankruptcy and was available to his creditors.

If you would like further information about this topic, please contact us today for expert and professional advice.

Standard Form Letters Not Sufficient To Properly Advise Client In Relation To A Personal Injury Claim

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In Procter v Raleys Solicitors (A Firm) [2015] EWCA Civ 400, the Court of Appeal considered an appeal against a finding that a solicitors’ firm had failed to properly advise its client about his claim.

In dismissing an appeal against a decision that a firm of solicitors (R), had failed to properly advise its client (P), the Court of Appeal has confirmed the need for standard form letters of advice to be sufficiently clear to ensure that clients properly understand the nature of the advice.

With Adams Harrison you can be sure that you will receive a personal service, taking you through each step of the claim for your injury.

We always make the time to discuss your position with you in detail and to answer any queries you may have. We do not rely on standard form letters to advise you – The Court of Appeal was critical of Raleys Solicitors for doing just that.

Forward Joke And Other e-mails At Your Peril

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Internet Misuse led to an employee being sacked for gross misconduct after he had already been given notice terminating his employment on the grounds of redundancy.

In the case of Williams v Leeds United Football Club [2015] EWHC 376 Mr Williams was given 12 months notice in accordance with his contract for his employment to end by reason of redundancy.

The Football club then discovered that he had used the club’s e-mail system to forward an e-mail entitled “dirty Leeds” together with pornographic images to a male friend at another football club.

Therefore, the club then dismissed him without notice for gross misconduct.

Mr Williams was not entitled, stated the High Court to his year’s salary, even for the part of the year he had worked, or his redundancy pay.

FATCA Registrations Delay: Important Update

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HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has advised that some individuals are experiencing difficulties in validating Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) registrations, in advance of the 31 May 2015 deadline for reports.

The advice from HMRC is that you should continue to file your FATCA return as soon as possible and it will not seek to apply a late FATCA filing penalty while these online delays continue.

HMRC has further advised that its published guidance is being updated to include a specific reference to these delays being considered a reasonable excuse to avoid penalties for late filing.

FATCA is US legislation aimed at reducing tax evasion by their citizens. It requires financial institutions outside the US to pass information about their US customers to the US tax authorities, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Woman Jailed For Under Declaration Of Inheritance Tax

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HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will not hesitate to bring criminal proceedings when tax evasion is significant, as the recent jailing of a woman who under-declared the Inheritance Tax (IHT) due on her mother’s estate proves.

The executor declared that the value of her late mother’s taxable estate to be approximately £285,000, well under the IHT threshold which is currently set at £325,000. The executor had, however, received substantial cash gifts within the seven years prior to her mother’s death, which should have been included on the IHT returns. The correct value of the taxable estate for IHT purposes exceeded £1.5 million, meaning that the IHT liability on the estate was approximately £500,000.

Pleading guilty to cheating the Exchequer, she was ordered to be jailed for 32 months.

There are a number of ways such evasion can be detected by HMRC.  For example, they operate a tax evasion hotline, they can cross-check values of properties sold against the relevant IHT returns, they can use information gleaned from one tax enquiry to start another and they are sometimes able to ascertain that the way a person lives is not commensurate their disclosed financial means.

Please contact us for expert and professional advice to ensure that you fully meet your responsibilities as an executor.

Holiday Pay Tribunal Decision Appeal

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British Gas has lodged an appeal against the recent employment tribunal decision in Lock and others v British Gas Trading Ltd and another ET/1900503/12 which found that commission and similar payments should be included in holiday pay.

If you have any concerns about this or other Employment Law issues please call Adams Harrison on 01799 523441 or send us a message using our contact form.

Increased Financial Penalty For Minimum Wage Violation

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Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 has increased the financial penalty for failure to comply with minimum wage amounts.

If you have any concerns about this or other Employment Law issues please call Adams Harrison on 01799 523441 or send us a message using our contact form.

Requests For Flexible Working

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From 30th June 2014 the law states that all employees with at least 26 weeks service can request a flexible working pattern.  The obligation on the employer is to consider the request, not necessarily grant it.  However, there are only certain grounds in law upon which a request can be refused.

The consequences of failing to deal appropriately with a request for flexible working can result in an employer being ordered to pay up to £3,712 as compensation to an employee.  

An employee can make a complaint to an Employment Tribunal if the employer:-

  • Fails to deal with their application in a reasonable manner.
  • Fails to notify them of the decision on their application within the decision period.
  • Fails to rely on one of the statutory grounds when refusing their application.
  • Bases its decision on incorrect facts.
  • Treats the application as withdrawn when the grounds entitling the employer to do so do not apply.

If the complaint is upheld, the tribunal must make a declaration to that effect and may make either or both of:

  • An order for reconsideration of the request.
  • A compensatory award to be paid by the employer to the employee, of such amount as the tribunal considers just and equitable, up to the statutory maximum.