Section 114(2) of the Senior Courts Act 1981 provides that: ‘Number of personal representatives— (2) Where under a Will or intestacy any beneficiary is a minor or a life interest arises, any grant of administration by the High Court shall be made either to a trust corporation (with or without an individual) or to not less than two individuals, unless it appears to the court to be expedient in all the circumstances to appoint an individual as sole administrator.’

We refer you to: Statement of truth in Form PA1A to lead the grant: Tolley’s Administration of Estates [C9.43] for guidance on the information that is required and wording that

The court has limited powers to make financial awards in cases where parents are unmarried. The significant powers contained in the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 do not apply where parties were not married. The court also has very limited jurisdiction to order that a parent pay child maintenance, as the Child Support Act 1991 (CSA 1991) reserved those powers to a statutory formula save where the income of the paying party is over a specified limit. In Dickson v Rennie the High Court confirmed that the court’s power to order top-up maintenance only became available where the income threshold was breached. In this scenario the

For unopposed applications for rectification, an application can be made to the Probate Registry under the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987, SI 1987/2024, r 55. This rule provides that the application must be accompanied by evidence setting out the grounds of the application, including the evidence of the testator’s intentions, and the basis on which the error in the Will was either the result of

The requirement to register an overseas company in the UK is detailed in the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) and the Overseas Companies Regulations 2009 (OCR 2009), SI 2009/1801. An overseas company has to be registered at Companies House if it opens an ‘establishment’ in the UK. An establishment is: • a branch within the meaning of the Eleventh Company Law Directive, 89/666/EEC, or • a place of business that is not such a branch Neither the Eleventh Company Law Directive, 89/666/EEC, nor OCR 2009, SI 2009/1801 give a definition of a ‘branch’, but European case law has established that a branch is a place of business that: • has the appearance of permanency • has a management function, and • is equipped to negotiate business with third parties without having to refer to the overseas

Provided a charity has power to borrow, it may do so without securing the Charity Commission’s consent. See Practice Note: Borrowing by charities. If a charity lacks the constitutional power to borrow, it may need to engage the Commission in order to remedy the deficiency in its powers, although generally it is not necessary to do that either. The Charity Commission provides guidance on how to change a

A reference will include personal data relating to the individual and may, depending on the circumstances, include special category data (or special categories of personal data, formerly known as sensitive personal data), eg where it includes information concerning the individual’s sickness absence record, ie health. Before processing personal data in relation to an individual, an employer will need to consider whether that processing is lawful under Assimilated Regulation (EU) 2016/679, UK GDPR (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018). For further information, see Practice Note: References, under the section dealing with ‘Data protection issues’. For information about the lawful processing of personal and special category data, generally, see Practice

Section 144 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 allows trustees to dismantle unwanted nil rate band trusts in order to take advantage of the transferable nil rate band on the death of a first spouse. An appropriation is not necessary to ‘unscramble’ an unwanted nil rate band trust. If it is obvious from an early stage that the trust is going to be dismantled, there is no requirement for the PRs to appropriate or vest the assets in the

Under the Land Registration Rules 2003, SI 2003/1417, r 5, the property register in respect of a registered estate in land must contain a description of the registered estate and that description must refer to a plan based on the Ordinance Survey map (a title plan). The plan is ordinarily prepared by HM Land Registry on first registration. Additionally, a lease will ordinarily make reference to a plan contained within the lease (a lease plan) and which sets out the extent of the demise by reference to what is descriptively demised by the lease. A lease plan which complies with the requirements of HM Land Registry may be used as the title plan. It may be necessary to

Three copies of the notice of appointment must be filed with the court accompanied by the further documents specified in Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016, SI 2016/1024, r 3.26(1) being: • the administrator's

Dispute Resolution analysis: The High Court has provided concise guidance as to how misrepresentation should be analysed when considering jurisdictional gateways. Under Article 5(3) of the Lugano Convention, in negligent misstatement cases, the place of the event giving rise to damage is normally the place where the misstatement was communicated to the claimant. However, if the statement was made and received in different places, then it is the place of making or sending of the communication, rather than its receipt, which is the place of the event. In this case it resulted in the court declining English jurisdiction. Written by Angharad Parry, barrister, at Twenty Essex.

MIB Agreement Where an uninsured driver causes an accident, they will often not have the means to pay compensation personally. For this reason the claimant looks to the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) for compensation. Subject to certain conditions and exclusions, the MIB is obliged to meet any unsatisfied judgment, including costs, under the Uninsured Drivers’ Agreement 2015. For general guidance on the operation