Following the Finance Act 2006, disabled person trusts can be established both as discretionary trusts and as life interest trusts. These trusts can be set up by anybody, including the disabled person themselves where they qualify as a ‘disabled person’. For information on who qualifies as a disabled person, see Practice Note: Taxation of trusts for disabled persons—IHT and sections 89, 89A and 89B of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (IHTA 1984). Following amendments made to IHTA 1984 by section 216 and Schedule 44 to the Finance Act 2013, for all trusts established on or after 8 April 2013,

The Will trust This Q&A suggests that a discretionary Will trust was established, of which X, Y and Z are discretionary beneficiaries. The extent to which trust property is appointed and distributed to those individuals will be a matter for the trustees of the discretionary trust to decide. The question states that the beneficiary (X) who wishes to purchase the property is the sole executor of the Will. Depending on the wording in the Will, X may also be the sole trustee of

The personal representatives (PRs) of a deceased individual’s estate generally need to obtain a grant of probate or letters of administration to enable them to prove title to the deceased’s property and to administer, collect and protect it for the benefit of the persons interested in the estate. Although generally required to administer an estate in England and Wales, a grant of representation may not be necessary depending on the type and value of the assets in the estate and where they are situated. See Practice Note: Devolution of assets and the need for a grant. Executors appointed by the deceased’s Will derive their title from the Will itself and

Only members who are registered in a company’s register of members may exercise voting rights over shares which carry voting rights. The trustees, as legal owners of the shares, will, if duly registered as members, have the power to vote in accordance with the articles of association of the company. Beneficiaries

Can the trustees of a discretionary trust create a revocable life interest trust for the beneficiaries in order to assist the completion of income tax returns? The question The factual position in this Q&A is that a discretionary trust is set up with one adult and two minor beneficiaries. The trustee will currently have to deduct 45% tax on the income before paying the beneficiaries and the adult beneficiary will have to complete a tax return and claim any excess tax they have paid. The question is whether, in order to avoid the lengthy

In this scenario, the trustees are the registered proprietors of a legal charge. The powers of a proprietor of a registered charge are set out in section 23 of the Land Registration

It appears from the background facts of the question that the terms of the trust were set out in the Will. We assume that the personal representatives (PRs) are not required to exercise any powers held by the deceased person in order to create the trust. If these assumptions are not correct, then the answer will depend on the precise terms of the Will and

Section 28(3) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) imposes an almost total bar on the court’s jurisdiction to entertain an application made after remarriage. The bar is qualified by the words ‘by reference to the grant or making of that [italics inserted] decree or order’. However, once a final order/decree absolute has been made or granted in relation to (in this case) the husband’s petition, there is no subsisting marriage in relation to which the wife’s first petition may then be progressed. Significantly in the context of this question, MCA 1973, s 28(3) bar does not apply to an application

A well-drafted charge will be able to provide for a percentage uplift for the value of the property without any difficulty. The charge and the loan agreement (as it will always be sensible to reduce the loan agreement to a contract or deed—the benefit of the latter being that no consideration is required for the same to be enforceable) should provide for the appropriate uplift. Provision should also be made to deal with the situation

General principles—privilege and confidentiality One of the more challenging issues a practitioner faces during litigation, and in particular during the disclosure phase of proceedings, is seeking to protect a client’s confidential material and information from being inspected by the other parties and from being put before the court. A key way to achieve such protection for documents relevant to a dispute is to assert that they are privileged. Once it has been established that a document is privileged, it confers a right to withhold that document from inspection. For more general information on the meaning and consequences of a document being privileged, see Practice Note: Privilege—general principles. It is important to note however, that labelling a document as ‘privileged’ does not determine its privileged status. Rather, for such special protection to apply, enabling a client to retain confidentiality and withhold inspection of a relevant document, the criteria for one of the various types of privilege must be specifically met (see below). As a further

Section 22(3) of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA 2005) provides that: ‘…(3) Subsection 4 applies if the court is satisfied─ (a) that fraud or undue pressure was used to induce P─ (i) to execute an instrument for the purpose of creating a lasting power of attorney, or (ii) to create a lasting power of attorney, or (b) that the donee (or, if more than one, any of them) of the lasting power of attorney─ (i) has behaved, or is behaving,

It is unclear if the donor has a lasting power of attorney (LPA) for property and affairs (P&A) or health and welfare (H&W) or both. Given that decisions have been made by the attorneys that the donor’s home should be sold (requiring a P&A LPA) and that they should go into a care home (requiring a H&W LPA), it is assumed that both exist and are registered. We assume that there is more