Section 283A of the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986) provides that a trustee in bankruptcy generally has three years from the date of their appointment to realise or secure the bankrupt's interest in the bankrupt's home; once that three year period has elapsed the interest in the family home will cease to be part of the bankruptcy estate and will automatically re-vest in the bankrupt. This provision applies only to the 'bankrupt's home' and not therefore to any other real property which the bankrupt (at the date of their bankruptcy order) owns or has an interest in. The

The rules in relation to the registration requirement and the effect of a failure to register where a bankruptcy petition has been presented against the proprietor of registered land or a registered charge is governed by section 86 of the Land Registration Act 2002 (LRA 2002). When a bankruptcy petition is presented, the petition should be registered as a pending action under the Land Charges Act 1972 (LCA 1972). As soon as practicable thereafter, the Land Registrar must enter in the register of title of any registered estate or charge which appears to them to be affected, a notice in respect of that pending action. The notice is entered in the proprietorship register and not the charges register. The notice will continue in force until replaced by a restriction

It may be possible to pursue the individual in the non-EU foreign country but not however, if the English bankruptcy order is recognised in the foreign country and/or the relevant debts which are discharged by the English bankruptcy are governed by English law. The English bankruptcy may be recognised in the relevant foreign country if that country accepts the ‘universalist’ or ‘modified’ principle of bankruptcy jurisdiction, see Practice Note: Comity and the court's inherent jurisdiction—application and effects. ‘Universalism’, meaning the doctrine that a bankruptcy order made in one country has worldwide effect provided that the debtor is domiciled or possibly has its ‘centre of main interests’ (COMI) in that country. The ‘modified universalist’ doctrine may recognise certain exceptions

Severance is the mechanism by which the beneficial ownership of property is divided into shares. An express declaration of a beneficial joint tenancy results in the joint tenants being given equal shares if the joint tenancy is severed (see Goodman v Gallant and Fantini v Scrutton. Where the property

It is assumed that the testator has died. The interest of the beneficiary whose entitlement to trust property or its income is subject to the beneficiary attaining a future age is a contingent interest. The interest will become vested, either in possession or in interest, when the beneficiary attains the specified age. Unlike a vested interest in trust property, a contingent interest is not a chose in

An executor is not under an obligation to renounce probate simply because a beneficiary requests it. If the executor agrees to the request to renounce their right to take a grant of probate, this must be done before the executor has intermeddled in the estate or taken a grant of probate. See Practice Note: Removal, renunciation and retirement of personal representatives. Once the executor has taken a grant of

Trustees' powers are to be formally exercised in the manner required by the general law or the terms of the trust, if and to the extent that these so stipulate. Otherwise, in principle, the settlor or testator may stipulate for whatever formalities he wishes. If these are not observed, generally the exercise is invalid (Re Hambro's Marriage Settlement). In the absence of such stipulation, there are no

Personal representatives (PRs) should not take sides, but in each particular case the extent of the PRs’ involvement will depend on the nature of the claim which is brought and on whether the PRs are also beneficiaries. Where the PRs are also beneficiaries they may defend a claim in their capacity as beneficiaries rather than as PRs per se. Assuming that the PRs are not beneficiaries or related to beneficiaries and thus have no personal interest in the outcome of the claim, it is the nature of the claim which will inform the nature of their involvement. For example, if the deceased died leaving a Will executed just before death under which he leaves the bulk of his estate to his second child and only a paltry legacy to his eldest child, whereas

A disclaimer is the refusal of a gift prior to acceptance. The refusal of the gift must take place before the beneficiary accepts any benefit from it. Where a valid disclaimer is made, the property refused will pass to the person next entitled under the Will or the intestacy rules. Where the following conditions are met, section 142 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984

A deed of variation is a lifetime gift by the beneficiary who gives up their entitlement under another's estate. For the purposes of this Q&A we have assumed that we are concerned with a beneficiary who is either already bankrupt or is facing bankruptcy. If the deed of variation results in the bankrupt/future bankrupt being divested of assets that would otherwise have been available to the creditors, then a deed of variation is potentially challengeable by a trustee in bankruptcy. However, the nature of the claim will depend on when the variation occurred, and also whether at the time of the variation the bankrupt/future bankrupt was entitled to the gift. For the purposes of this Q&A we will assume that bankrupt had become entitled by

In conducting our research, we have focussed on public procurement under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), SI 2015/102. Standstill requirements generally Under PCR 2015, SI 2015/102, reg 86, a procurement award notice (standstill notice) should be sent to all: • tenderers (ie any economic operators that have submitted a tender that has not been definitively excluded from the procedure), and • candidates (ie any economic operators that have been invited/sought an invitation to take part in the procurement and have not already been notified of their rejection and the reasons for it) This means that a contracting authority must provide the relevant standstill information to all unsuccessful tenderers, apart from any that have already been ‘definitively excluded’, together with any candidates that have not already been informed of the rejection of their application to participate. Under PCR 2015, SI 2015/102, reg 86(8), a tenderer is 'definitively excluded' where

The scenario described in this Q&A seems similar to that described in Gala United Limited v Ariadne Road RTM Company Ltd. Here, the court found that the right to manage (RTM) extended to the access road and common parts of an estate. This included land over which the tenants of the premises had rights in common with tenants of other buildings, regardless of the fact that those buildings did not form part