How the rules against perpetuities and excessive accumulations apply to pilot trusts holding pension death benefits arising under a trust-based pension scheme is a complex topic and some areas of ambiguity exist depending on when the member joined the pension scheme and when the pilot trust was created. The decision of Goff J in Re Meadows Staff Pension Scheme Rules—broadly supported by the Privy Council decision in Baird v Baird—provides support for the view that, for the purposes of the perpetuity rule, the trust of a member's

Private client analysis: The Chancery Division held that the executors, who were removed for misconduct, must pay the applicant's costs and could not indemnify themselves from the estate. The court rejected the executors' attempt to use an exemption clause, emphasizing that costs follow the event in contested removal applications where executors act in self-interest rather than for the estate. Practical implications written by Toby Bishop, barrister of 5 Stone Buildings.

CPR PD 57AD provides for disclosure in the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales and the Business and Property Courts in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle. It is substantially in the form of, and replaces, the pilot CPR PD 51U. It has been in force since 1 October 2022 in respect of both existing and new proceedings. It does not apply to certain types of cases, including those within a fixed costs regime or proceeding under CPR PD Part 8,

Local Government analysis: The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea obtained a pre-proceedings Norwich Pharmacal order for disclosure against a third party who had potentially innocently been caught up in wrongdoing, namely, unlawful subletting. The order required the online short term letting business AirBnB to disclose information concerning financial transactions associated with properties let to social housing tenants in two large blocks of flats. The Council was aware that some of its tenants were unlawfully subletting. The two blocks identified were in popular prime locations and contained a high proportion of key safes for individual properties which gave rise to the suspicion that short term subletting was taking place. The order sought was designed to enable the Council to identify the individual wrongdoers. AirBnB did not oppose the order sought but was unwilling to disclose the information without a court order. Written by Ian Peacock and Anneli Robins, barristers at 4–5 Gray’s Inn Square specialising in housing and local government law.

Insurance & Reinsurance analysis: In a rare decision on the operation of the Insurance Act 2015 (IA 2015), the High Court has confirmed that insurers were unable to avoid a liability policy, notwithstanding a misrepresentation by the policy holder regarding the terms on which it was trading. As a result, the claimant was entitled to assert the policy holder's rights of indemnity against the insurer under the Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Act 2010 (TP(RAI)A 2010). The decision contains useful guidance on the operation of conditions precedent in insurance policies, the duty of fair presentation under IA 2015 and the transparency requirements for contracting out of IA 2015. Written by Leah Alpren-Waterman, knowledge lawyer and Chris Neilson, partner at Mishcon de Reya LLP.

This Practice Note provides an overview of the role and operation of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and the ranking of deposits protected by it in the waterfall of payments to creditors in the event of the insolvency of a relevant firm. For further information on the FSCS, see the following Practice Notes: • The Financial Services Compensation Scheme • Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)—the qualifying conditions for compensation • Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)—automatic assignment or subrogation of rights • Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)—payment or rejection of compensation, and • Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)—funding Role and operation of the FSCS What is the FSCS? The FSCS was established by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000) as an independent body which provides protection to customers in the event of a financial institution or financial services firm becoming unable, or likely to be unable, to pay claims against it (ie it is ‘in default’). It is a statutory fund of last resort and will

It is axiomatic that corporate insolvency can often lead to fraud claims. The Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986) has ten sections with a title containing the word ‘fraud’ or ‘fraudulent’ (although when considering provisions like IA 1986, s 423 (transactions defrauding creditors), as this Practice Note will do below, it becomes apparent, at least in that instance, that ‘fraud’ in the modern legal sense of the word is not a necessary ingredient). Investigations into fraud following the insolvency of a company (or group of companies) can lead to many different forms including businesses that were set up solely as a vehicle of fraud or involved some form of group investment (which likely gave rise to an illegal collective investment scheme (CIS) that is in breach of, among others, the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000). Irrespective of the form the fraud takes or the commercial sector which it covers (for example property development, manufacturing, general financial investment/advisory) insolvency practitioners (IPs) and creditors alike should act swiftly to understand

Insurance & Reinsurance analysis: Maeve Morrissey, trainee solicitor, Geoffrey Shreeve, legal director, and Paddy Partridge, solicitor apprentice, all at Kennedys LLP, summarise the court’s decision relating to late notification in Arch Insurance (UK) Ltd v Philip McCullough.

Restructuring & Insolvency analysis: In this appeal, the Court of Appeal was asked whether an intention to avoid incurring a tax liability to HMRC was a prohibited purpose under section 423(3) of the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986). The Court of Appeal held that it was not a prohibited purpose because, in short, seeking to avoid a liability from occurring in the first place will not prejudice a potential creditor within the meaning of IA 1986, s 423. Every man is entitled if he can to order his affairs so as that the tax attaching under the appropriate legislation is less than it otherwise would be. Written by Ben Rutledge, associate, and Nathan Tidd, paralegal, at Keidan Harrison LLP who acted for the successful respondents.

This Q&A assumes that A, B, C and D are all beneficiaries in the residuary estate. The first issue raised by this scenario is an appropriation of real property within the estate to some, but not all of the beneficiaries. For information on the power of personal representatives to use a specific asset in the estate to meet, in full or in part, a beneficiary’s entitlement or interest, see Practice Note: Personal representatives and trustees—power of appropriation. The ability to exercise the power should not be affected by the fact that there has been an interim distribution.

Chapter II of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 (LRHUDA 1993) allows a qualifying tenant to obtain a new lease of a flat by service of a notice under LRHUDA 1993, s 42 upon their landlord, as defined by LRHUDA 1993, s 40. LRHUDA 1993, s 40 provides that the landlord in relation to a lease held by a qualifying tenant of a flat means the person who is the owner of that interest in the flat which is an interest in reversion on the termination of the tenant’s lease and is either a freehold interest or a leasehold interest

While most financial remedy proceedings take part between the spouses subject to the marriage (or civil partners in respect of a civil partnership) there are cases in which it will be necessary for a third party to intervene. This is commonly the case where there is a dispute as to the beneficial ownership of assets, most commonly property, but may also be the case where proposed orders will affect the assets or security of third parties. This can include a third party who holds a charge over property which they seek to enforce, which can result in a competition between the creditor’s