Ward Hadaway

(A) and (B) are living in a property in which they have been given a life interest. On the last of them to die the property passes to charities (under the Will of the deceased who gifted them a life interest in the property). Do they need to pay inheritance tax and does it make a difference if the property is based on agricultural land?

A Will leaves residuary estate to 18 different charities. Two of them (X and Y) have now merged to form Z, a new charity carrying on the charitable purposes of X and Y. Does Z now receive 2/18ths or does one share fail due to the presumption that a beneficiary who is named twice will only receive one gift?

An executor named in a Will cannot be found and is thought to have died. What steps can be taken to locate them or to ascertain whether they are in fact dead?

If the attorney’s date of birth is incorrect, but all other information is correct, is a registered lasting power of attorney still valid? If not valid, can it be amended?

The deceased left the residue of her estate to her two children, A and B, in equal shares. The residue consists of a property, which is still registered in the name of the deceased, and a portfolio of investments worth in excess of the value of the property and which has already been transferred to the individual names of A and B (50% each). A now wishes to retain the property and buy out B. If the executors were to transfer the property to A (as her half share in the residuary estate) and arrange for the fund manager to transfer a compensatory part of the investment portfolio from A to B, would this be classed as a sale by A and subject to stamp duty and any other relevant taxes?

What is the Business Property Relief position with regard to running a business on land owned personally by the sole shareholder?

What test applies for determining whether someone is 'incapable of administering their property or managing their affairs' for the purposes of establishing whether a beneficiary suffering from a mental disorder would qualify as disabled for tax purposes?

Where a pilot trust is written in a document to accompany the will (referenced within the latter but not in whole) but where the token £10 to constitute it cannot be proven to have been deposited with the trustees, can the gift to the trust in the will constitute the trust?

Where the son of the deceased is appointed a joint executor with another person who cannot be traced and the original Will is held by a third party, will the son's authority be sufficient for the third party to release the Will and if not can an application be made to the court if the third party refuses to release the Will?