In the ordinary course of events, assets are payable to the personal representative (PR) of the deceased or, in certain circumstances, paid directly to the beneficiary (Administration of Estates (Small Payments) Act 1965), but in this case the beneficiary cannot give a valid receipt. In this particular situation, there are a number of options that a party may wish to consider: • the conventional route is to apply to the Court of Protection for an order providing for the relevant person to be a PR and then apply

Any person within any category set out in the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987, SI 1987/2024, r 22(1) may take out the grant if:

A grant of administration is required where the deceased died intestate. The order of priority of entitlement follows the entitlement to an intestate’s estate and is set out in the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987 (NCPR 1987), SI 1987/2024. Although a grant of representation in the estate of a deceased person will not be made to someone who, at the time of the application, lacks capacity within the meaning of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA 2005),

Potentially exempt transfers A gift that qualifies as a potentially exempt transfer (PET) and is made seven years or more before the death of the transferor is exempt from the payment of inheritance tax (IHT). Furthermore, no IHT is payable in respect of a PET at the time when it is made. There is no obligation to report a PET to HMRC at the time it is made; nor is there

It has been assumed for the purposes of this Q&A that the gift of cash was made after 5 April 1998; that the deceased, on death, did not hold a qualifying residential interest; and that at all relevant times, the deceased was resident and domiciled in the UK. Consideration should be given to whether the gift with reservation of benefit (GWR or GROB) rules and the pre-owned asset tax (POAT) regime apply to the scenario described in this Q&A. Gift with reservation/Gift with reservation of benefit Gift of first property The GWR/GROB regime may be relevant to the

We have assumed that the estate is solvent and there are enough funds to pay all legacies in full. A specific gift will only adeem if the testator no longer owns the subject matter of the gift at the date of their death. If the attorney only liquidated the bank account after the testator’s death, the specific gift of the bank account to the charity did not adeem and the charity is still entitled to receive the money from the bank account plus

This Q&A assumes that the deceased died after April 2011. Inheritance tax treatment of a drawdown pension Where a person elects to draw down all or part of their pension, they effectively become entitled to the funds which form part of the drawdown fund. Having become so entitled, if they failed to exercise their rights over those drawdown funds and left funds undrawn on their death, the general rule was that an inheritance tax (IHT) charge may arise. In the Autumn Statement 2015 (confirmed in the Budget 2016), the government announced its legislative intention to ensure that no IHT will arise where a member dies while in drawdown without having drawn-out all of their funds. This measure was introduced in to the Finance Bill 2016 which became the Finance Act 2016 (FA 2016)

For the purpose of testate or intestate inheritance adopted children and natural children (whether legitimate or illegitimate) are treated identically. Under the Adoption Act 1976, s 39(2) an adopted child is treated in law as if he were not the child of any other person than his adopted parent or parents. For further information on the status of adopted and illegitimate children for succession purposes, see Practice Note: The meaning of ‘children’ in Private Client which sets out the law in this area. There is, however, no requirement on a testator to treat all her children equally—the general principle is that a testator is

The brief answer to the question is yes, an IHT400 must be completed despite the fact that all of the assets in the deceased’s estate passed by survivorship to their surviving spouse. As a result of the right of survivorship, the assets do not pass under the deceased’s Will or on their intestacy and so do not vest in the personal representatives (PRs) but, although the deceased’s undivided share in the assets passes to a beneficiary which has an exemption for inheritance tax (IHT) purposes, the value of the deceased’s share is still subject to IHT and so a return must be made unless the estate is an excepted estate. Excepted estates An excepted estate is an estate where no IHT is due and

It is assumed that the relevant conditions set out in section 144(1) of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (IHTA 1984) are met. IHTA 1984, s 144(2) applies where the conditions in IHTA 1984, s 144(1)(a) or (b) are met. The condition in IHTA 1984, s 144(1)(a) is met where property comprised in a person's estate immediately before his death is settled by his Will and, within the

The mere fact that the time within which the option must be exercised is a matter of discretion for the executor would not constitute a

Clause 4.2 of the STEP Standard Provisions (2nd edition) states: ‘…4.2 Management The Trustees may effect any transaction relating to the management or disposition of Trust Property as if they were absolutely entitled to it.’ The main issue to determine is whether the granting of a licence to occupy relates to the management of, or whether it is a disposition of, the trust property. Disposition In Newlon Housing Trust v Alsulaimen [1999] 2 FLR 690 (not reported by LexisNexis®) at [692G], Lord Hoffmann stated that: ‘“Disposition” is a familiar enough word in the law of property and ordinarily means an act by which someone