Disclosure obligations Where a defendant appears before a magistrates’ court charged with an indictable-only offence, or an either way offence, and is sent for a Crown Court trial pursuant to s 51(1) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (CDA 1998), the requirements for service of prosecution evidence are governed by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (Service of Prosecution Evidence) Regulations 2005 (CDA (SPE) Regs), SI 2005/902 and the Criminal Procedure Rules 2025 (CrimPR 2025), SI 2025/909. For service of the Initial Details of the Prosecution Case (IDPC) Disclosure in the magistrates’ court, see Practice Note: Disclosure in the magistrates’ court. Note that certain criminal cases are managed via the Crown Court Digital Case System (DCS) (the digital case management system for the Crown Court). In these instances, prosecution evidence may be served and accessed through the DCS. For more information, see Practice Note: How to use Common Platform and the Digital Case System. Not to be confused with the IDPC, the prosecution’s initial duty of disclosure

Although there are provisions contained in Inheritance Tax (Double Charges Relief) Regulations 1987, SI 1987/1130 to avoid a double charge to inheritance tax occurring on the death of a person where the gift with reservation of benefit rules apply (section 102 of the Finance Act 1986), careful consideration is required to ascertain whether or not this relief would be available in the particular circumstances to avoid the potential double charge of the exit charge

Life insurance policies There are two main types of life insurance policies: • whole of life—which pays out the proceeds no matter how long a person lives. The object of such a policy is not to provide dependants with income, but rather they are used for tax planning or to provide an inheritance for specified persons • term insurance—which pays out a lump sum payment or income to dependants if a person dies within the period specified. The object of term insurance is to provide for living expenses for dependants after death or, for example, to pay off a mortgage or tax liabilities Policies written in trust Either type of policy can be written in trust. This can be an absolute trust with a specified beneficiary or beneficiaries or a discretionary

We refer you to Practice Note: Personal injury trusts, which explains the different types of trust that may be used to hold personal injury (PI) awards, including bare trusts. You will see from this Practice Note that the key features of a bare trust are as follows: • the beneficiary has an immediate and absolute right to both

Broadly, the trustees are liable to income tax on the income arising from property held in a trust subject to an interest in possession because they are the legal owners of the trust property and therefore the persons receiving the income. Accordingly, the trustees are under a duty to report income and gains arising in the settlement to HM Revenue & Customs

Family analysis: In AW v AH [2022] EWFC 195, [2022] All ER (D) 91 (Aug), the husband obtained a divorce in China before decree nisi was granted on the wife’s divorce application in England, creating a significant impact on the financial remedy proceedings in England which the husband did not engage in. In winning the ‘race for decree’ over the wife, the result of the husband’s Chinese divorce was that the final order of Deputy District Judge Michael Horton QC (as he then was) at the final hearing in the financial remedy proceedings remained in draft. The draft final order was subject to the pending decree nisi, after which it could then be drawn up and become enforceable. The wife therefore made an application under Part III of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 (MFPA 1984) and was successful. In his judgment, DDJ Michael Horton QC re-instated the award and orders he had originally provided for the wife in the earlier financial remedy proceedings. The judge also addressed the wider issues in his judgment. He made suggestions for improvements while condemning the court delays and administrative issues which led to the elapse of more than one year between the wife’s application for decree nisi, and pronouncement of the same, and the impact it had on the outcome of the financial remedy proceedings. Written by Caroline Korah, Partner at Vardags, and Jemima Kearney, Solicitor at Vardags.

Dispute Resolution analysis: This is a rare example of an application for pre-action disclosure succeeding before the Commercial Court. The applicant, Loches Capital Ltd (Loches), applied for pre-action disclosure of four categories of documents in order to assist them in formulating and assessing their proposed claim against Goldman Sachs International (GSI). The judgment considers questions of limitation, discretion and the interplay between those factors (among other things). Although the facts giving rise to the alleged cause of action occurred over 12 years ago the court was not satisfied that the limitation arguments were bound to succeed and that was not a reason to refuse the application for pre-action disclosure. Written by Christopher Snell, barrister, at New Square Chambers.

An action under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (I(PFD)A 1975) should generally be commenced before the expiration of six months from the date of a grant to the estate. An application after that date can only be made with the permission of the court. See I(PFD)A 1975, s 4: ‘An application for an order under section 2 of this Act shall not, except with the permission of the court, be made after the end of the period of six months from the date on which representation with respect to the estate of the deceased is first taken out [(but nothing prevents the making of an application before such representation is first taken out)].’ The

This Practice Note summarises the rules governing the preparation of annual accounts by small LLPs. Rules and guidance The statutory rules governing the annual accounts of small LLPs are set out in: • Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) • the Limited Liability Partnerships (Accounts and Audit) (Application of Companies Act 2006) Regulations 2008, SI 2008/1911 (2008 Regulations), which apply parts of the CA 2006 to LLPs • the Small Limited Liability Partnerships (Accounts) Regulations 2008, SI 2008/1912 (Small LLPs Regulations) • the Limited Liability Partnerships, Partnerships and Groups (Accounts and Audit) Regulations 2016, SI 2016/575 (2016 Regulations) • the Statutory Auditors Regulations 2017 • the Companies (Accounts and Reports) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2024, SI 2024/1303 (2024 Regulations) This Practice Note deals with the accounting regime as applied to small LLPs under the 2016 Regulations (as amended by the 2024 Regulations). This Practice Note does not deal with the accounting regime for micro-entities, which are a sub-group of small LLPs. For further details on the statutory rules governing annual accounts

This Practice Note summarises the rules governing the preparation of annual accounts and reports by small companies (other than micro-entities) under Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) and the regulations made under it. These regulations are: • the Small Companies and Groups (Accounts and Directors’ Report) Regulations 2008 (Small Companies Regulations) • the Companies, Partnerships and Groups (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2015 (2015 Regulations) • the Companies (Accounts and Reports) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2024 (2024 Regulations) This Practice Note deals with the accounting regime as applied to small companies under the 2015 Regulations, as amended by the 2024 Regulations. This Practice Note does not deal with the accounting regime for micro-entities, which are a sub-group of small companies. For further details on the statutory rules governing annual accounts and reports of a micro-entity, see Practice Note: The micro-entities regime. For a general overview of the statutory framework for company annual accounts and reports, see Practice Note: Accounts and reports—an outline of the statutory framework. When the small companies regime applies The

The right to see a Will before probate It is correct that a Will is a private document before the grant of probate is issued. The actual beneficiaries under the Will have no entitlement to see it. The only people who have the right to see the Will before probate are the executors. Obviously, they usually send a copy of the Will to any residuary beneficiaries but it is within the executors discretion as to whom they disclose the Will. See generally, Probate actions (probate claims)—overview. Sections 122 and 123 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 (SCA

A grant of letters of administration will be required for the estate of the owner of the legal title, as proof of ownership by the selling/transferring administrators. See Practice Note: The type of grant needed. It is unclear whether the surviving spouse had any beneficial interest in the property, whether due to an express trust or a constructive trust, (see Practice Note: Constructive trusts). We assume that, if the spouse did hold a beneficial interest, it was held as tenant in common, not joint tenant. If the spouse of the legal owner held a beneficial interest in the property, the entitlement to her