Tax analysis: The High Court upheld the validity of search warrants issued to the taxpayers. The court found that the warrant-issuing judge was entitled on the evidence in this case to be satisfied that there were reasonable grounds for believing that an indictable offence had been committed (since the taxpayers had retrospectively re-described purported loans as fiduciary receipts) and that a warrant was necessary because of the risk of prejudice to the investigation.

The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 (DDSA 2020), which will allow married couples to divorce without assigning blame, will come into force on 6 April 2022. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has said that it has been working closely with the Family Procedure Rule Committee (FPRC) to identify the significant changes needed to the Family Procedure Rules 2010 (FPR 2010), SI 2010/2955 and supporting practice directions, and to devise some key new procedures. It is understood from the FPRC that an amending statutory instrument (SI) has been drafted dealing with consequential legal changes which is to be debated in Parliament. FPR 2010, SI 2010/2955, which governs the procedure in divorce proceedings will be amended by the SI in due course. Therefore,

The general principle that immigration applications are to be decided by the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD) in accordance with the Immigration Rules (the rules) in force at the time the decision is made was confirmed by the House of Lords in Odelola v SSHD. However, transitional provisions set out at the start of a Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules have been recognised by the Court of Appeal as displacing the Odelola principle and therefore binding the SSHD as to the version of the Rules that she may apply in a given case. See Practice Note: Sources of immigration law and their legal status. Paragraph GEN.3.1 of Appendix FM, titled ‘Exceptional circumstances’, was added to the Immigration Rules by paragraph FM11 of Statement of Changes in Immigration

Requirement to give reasons for a refusal of permission Supreme Court Rules Practice Directions (SCR PD) 3, para 3.3.1 provides that the appeal panel (comprised of at least three judges of the Supreme Court) will first decide whether an application for permission to appeal is admissible, ie whether the court has jurisdiction to entertain an appeal. If it is established that the court does not have jurisdiction, the appeal panel will refuse permission on that ground alone and will not consider the content of the application. It will give a reason for deciding that the application is inadmissible. Supreme Court Rules 2009 (SCR 2009), SI 2009/1603, r 16(1) provides that every admissible application for

When an executor takes out a grant of probate in a testator’s estate, they become an executor not just of that testator’s Will but also of any Will of any other individual of which the testator was sole or sole surviving proving executor. The chain of representation passes from proving executor to proving executor. See Practice Note: The chain of representation. As the chain of representation passes from proving executor to

The court has a wide discretion as to whether to grant an order for sale and each case will be considered carefully and decided on its own particular facts. When considering whether to exercise its discretion and to grant an order for sale, the court may take into consideration a number of factors, including: • judgment creditor • competing interests • age of the debtor’s children • judgment creditor’s human rights (in the case of a residential home) In relation to your query and Article 8 of the Human Rights Act

Where a business tenancy within the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) comes to the end of its contractual term, provided the criteria for security of tenure are met the lease will simply continue under LTA 1954, s 24. No periodic tenancy is created by the tenant's continued occupation and payment of rent; rather the original tenancy is continued by statute. For

This Q&A assumes that the unincorporated charity is an intermediate landlord for the purposes of this query. An unincorporated charity will be either: • a charitable trust, or • a charitable unincorporated association The trustees of the charitable trust or the members of the association’s management committee will be the ‘charity trustees’ for the purpose of entering into contracts and deeds for and on behalf of the charity. They can and must do so in exactly the same way as any other individual, subject to any restrictions or additional requirements which are set out in the trust deed or declaration of trust by which the charity is established. The relevant landlord for the purposes of Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) notices and proceedings

In accordance with CPR 73.7, copies of the interim charging order, application notice and any documents filed in support of the charging order must be served upon the judgment debtor within 21 days of the date of the interim charging order. The rules regarding service of documents other than the claim form are set out in CPR 6.20–CPR 6.29. As per CPR 6.23(1), a party to proceedings must provide an address at which that party can be served with documents relating to the proceedings. CPR 6.23(2) sets out permissible

When the sole surviving trustee of the land dies, their legal personal representatives would not automatically become the owners of the legal title, as trustees. A new set of trustees would need to be appointed. Assuming that this is a simple bare trust, so that the trust deed will not specify a person or persons as having the power to appoint trustees in accordance with section 36(1)(a) of the Trustee Act 1925 (TA 1925), TA 1925, s 36(1)(b) will apply. Given that there was only a single trustee who has died, TA 1925, s 36(1)(b) will have the effect that the power to appoint new trustees will vest in the legal personal

Defences to defamation claims—offer of amends It is open to a defendant who is prepared to accept at an early stage of the proceedings (prior to service of a defence) that he or she has wrongly defamed the claimant to make an offer of amends under section 2 of the Defamation Act 1996 (DeA 1996). By making such an offer, the defendant agrees to make a suitable correction and sufficient apology to the claimant and to pay appropriate compensation (if any is warranted) and costs as agreed between the parties or determined by the court. If the claimant accepts the offer, the case does not proceed to trial but to a hearing before a judge at which any outstanding issues between the parties, most commonly the quantum of compensation, will

If the whereabouts of a potential respondent is unknown, this can cause difficulties when issuing and progressing proceedings. If no information of use is known and there is no forwarding address, it is possible to seek information from government departments. The court, on the application of an applicant, may request the disclosure by government departments of the address of a respondent who cannot be traced. The provisions are contained in the Family Procedure Rules 2010 (FPR 2010), SI 2010/2955. FPR 2010, PD 6C was substituted from 18 January 2023 with a revised FPR 2010, PD 6C in relation to applications issued on or after 6 April 2022—for the previous version of the Practice Direction which applies in relation to applications