The trustee should apply the scheme’s assets in accordance with the scheme’s winding up provisions and any overriding legislation which applies to the wind-up. In order to do that, the trustee will need to confirm the liabilities of the scheme so it can apply the assets (or the proceeds of disinvesting them) correctly towards discharging those liabilities. The aim, of course, should be to end up with no remaining liabilities when the assets

Presumably: • the discretionary trust in question is in the usual form containing wide powers of appointment and advancement in respect of the income and capital of the trust fund, and • the proposed scheme is to seek to take advantage of section 142(2) of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (IHTA 1984), which provides: ‘Where within the period of two years after a person's death— (a) any of the dispositions (whether effected by will, under the law relating to intestacy or otherwise) of the property comprised in his estate immediately before his death are varied, or (b) the benefit conferred by any of those dispositions is disclaimed, by an instrument in writing

For guidance in this area, see Practice Note: CGT—PPR relief for trusts and estates which explains the interaction of principal private residence (PPR) relief and section 260 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 (TCGA 1992) regarding hold-over claims. It states that PPR relief

If the trustees have exercised their power in accordance with any requirements set out in the trust instrument, for example that it must be effected by means of a deed, it is difficult to see how the transfer of the property can now be reclassified as a sale (a transfer for consideration), unless the trustees obtain a court order for rectification, setting aside the transfer under the doctrine of mistake or setting it aside under the rule in Hastings-Bass. For further information, see Practice Notes: Unwinding trustee decisions—the rule in Hastings-Bass following Pitt v Holt and Trusts—construction, rectification and mistake. If the trustees did not properly

The loan may be a regulated activity for the purposes of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000). This is because you state that the loan will be secured on the property by first legal mortgage. If the person making the loan is doing so 'by way of business', they must be authorised to

Arbitration analysis: The Federal Court of Australia recently rendered a consequential verdict in a matter involving India and a substantial US$111m arbitral award. The court, notably, dismissed India's endeavour to challenge the application for the recognition and enforcement of the award. In the case of CCDM Holdings, LLC v Republic of India, the court determined that India waived its immunity under the Foreign States Immunities Act 1985, by virtue of its accession to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitration Awards (the New York Convention). It was conclusively established that India voluntarily renounced its sovereign immunity and subjected itself to the jurisdiction of the court, thereby constituting a consensual agreement within the parameters of the Foreign States Immunities Act 1985. Put succinctly, India's status as a signatory to the New York Convention affirmed its acquiescence to the jurisdiction of the Australian courts and the relinquishment of its sovereign immunity. This ruling serves to strengthen Australia's reputation as a pro-arbitration jurisdiction and is committed to the enforcement awards. Written by Iram Majid, advocate at Director Indian Institute of Arbitration and Mediation.

The rule which provides that there must be two parties to a contract.

We have assumed that the discretionary trust is subject to the relevant property regime for inheritance tax (IHT) purposes. For guidance on restructuring trusts generally, including a discussion about how this may be done, the use of powers to effect it and the possible tax implications, see Practice Note: Taxation of trusts—restructuring trusts. We also refer you to the following Q&A: Can the trustees of a discretionary

Probate Where the deceased left a valid Will appointing executor(s) who are able and willing to prove the Will, the application is for a grant of probate. The executor(s) may be nominated either: • expressly, by Will or codicil, or • impliedly, according to the terms of the Will An executor’s appointment may be absolute or: • limited to a period of time • limited to a particular place • limited to particular property • conditional, or • substituted If there is a conditional or substituted appointment, the applicants will need to establish in the application statement of truth, which will be included in the application form PA1P or PA1A or online application, that either: • the condition has been satisfied, or • circumstances giving rise to the substitution have occurred Letters of administration with Will annexed A grant of administration (with Will annexed) is required where the deceased left a valid Will but there is no executor able and willing to prove it. The right to apply for the

This Practice Note examines the calculation of the compensatory award for unfair dismissal. It considers the section 123 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) definition (compensation that is just and equitable in all the circumstances), Whelan guidelines, past loss, future loss, loss of earnings, pension loss, post-dismissal increases, benefits, loss of statutory rights, loss of long notice period, treatment of sums received (eg from new employment, jobseekers allowance, housing benefit and amounts under pension and permanent health insurance (PHI) schemes) and the duty to mitigate. It considers possible reductions, increases and deductions to the award, including a Polkey reduction (chance of a fair dismissal in any event), deduction for sums received, a reduction for contributory fault, a reduction for a whistleblowing disclosure not being made in good faith, a reduction for accelerated receipt, increases or reductions of up to 25% for an unreasonable failure to follow the Acas Code of Practice, an increase for a failure to give a written statement of terms and an increase for the effect of taxation (ie grossing up

The rules governing annual accounts and reports of unquoted companies are set out in: • Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) • the Large and Medium-sized Companies and Groups (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008, SI 2008/410 (Large Companies Regulations) • the Companies, Partnerships and Groups (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2015, SI 2015/980 (2015 Regulations) This Practice Note deals with the accounting regime as applied to companies under the 2015 Regulations. A company that qualifies for the unquoted companies regime will be subject to less onerous accounting and reporting obligations than a company that falls within the quoted company 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 unquoted companies regime applies An unquoted company is defined in CA 2006 as a company formed and registered under CA 2006 that is not a quoted company (see Practice Note: The quoted companies regime). A quoted company for the purposes of CA 2006, Pt 15 is

Dispute Resolution analysis: With significant advancements in the text generation and document processing capabilities of AI tools, questions have been asked about how AI could streamline dispute resolution. Practice Direction 57AC, which came into force in April 2021, has amended how Trial Witness Statements in the Business and Property Courts must be prepared in a bid to reduce both costs and the level of intervention by lawyers in the drafting process. Many statements, it was said, were over-engineered and far too expensive to produce. The PD’s overarching aim of maximising witness statement efficiency would appear to be fertile ground for the implementation of AI tools. In this article, Katie Chandler, partner, Andrew Howell, partner and Ben Jones, associate, at Taylor Wessing discuss the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the witness statement process.