Financial matters

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Many elderly clients spend a lot of time thinking about their finances, worrying in particular:

  1. •

    whether they have and will have resources sufficient to cover their needs to the end of their life

  2. •

    where they can get extra finance when needed

  3. •

    how they can ensure that their chosen relatives inherit something

The practitioner must seek to answer these and other questions competently in order to offer a rounded service to the client and to ensure that a holistic approach to their needs is taken.

Disposing of property interests

The home is likely to be the single most important asset to the elderly client, both in monetary and psychological terms, and elderly clients often express fear of losing their home or of it being sold and the proceeds being eaten up in future care home fees.

As a result of these concerns, elderly clients frequently seek advice from their professional advisers on how to dispose of their house to relatives, either permanently or so that they no longer own it but can remain living there. The first is relatively simple but often not sensible, while the

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Latest Private Client News

Private Client weekly highlights—1 May 2025

This week’s edition of Private Client highlights includes: (1) Hubbard v Hubbard, where the lack of credible evidence resulted in the disallowance of a claim for trustee expenses; (2) NHS South East London ICB v JP & the Royal Hospital for Neuro-Disability, which considered issues of dignity, delay, and declarations on best interests; (3) R (YVR) v Birmingham City Council, a decision involving adult social care charging policies, the public sector equality duty, and severely disabled adults; (4) HMRC publishes Tax update spring 2025; (5) CIOT’s response to the consultation on reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief concerning their application in relation to trusts; (6) Patel v Patel, where the High Court resolved a dispute between two executors over the funeral arrangements for their father, and (7) the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary publishes updated AI guidance and introduces Copilot Chat for judges.

Question of the week: Where a trust of a life policy otherwise falls within the definition of an 'excluded trust' set out in paragraph 4 of Schedule 3A of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, does it lose that excluded trust status if it opens a non-interest bearing bank account in order to pay insurance premiums for the policy?

This Q&A considers whether a trust of a life policy, which otherwise falls within the definition of an 'excluded trust' as set out in the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, Sch 3A, para 4 loses its excluded trust status if it opens a non-interest bearing bank account to pay insurance premiums for the policy.

Tax update spring 2025—Tax analysis

Tax analysis: On 28 April 2025, the government announced a package of technical tax policy proposals aimed at simplifying and reforming the tax system and improving tax administration. These announcements included the publication of draft legislation, new consultations, various technical papers and responses to consultations, as well as updates on previously announced measures together with new initiatives.

Sizeable refunds could follow taxpayer’s FTT win as HMRC directed to issue enquiry closure notices in ten-year dispute (Refinitiv Ltd v HMRC)

Tax analysis: In Refinitiv Ltd v HMRC, the First-tier Tax Tribunal (FTT) directed that HMRC issue closure notices in respect of enquiries into 2018 corporation tax returns, averring that it had not met the burden of proof required for the enquiries to be kept open.

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