Court Funds Office meaning

Thiel-Czerwinke and another (joint liquidators of Courtside Recycling Ltd) v Crabb [2024] EWHC 337 (Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling underlines the uncompromising obligation on directors to maintain trading records, and accepts that discarding or failing to retain them was, on these facts, a constituent part of the director’s fraudulent design. It also clarifies that once office-holders demonstrate that company assets or cash were transferred to a director, the absence of documents showing that the funds or property were applied for the company’s advantage renders the director liable to repay the whole amount to the company. That outcome applies even though the judge did not doubt that Mr Crabb did in fact use some of the cash when making payments for Courtside... What was the background? Mr Crabb served as the Company’s sole director; the business dealt in scrap metal. For the trading periods from August 2014 to February 2018, the Company submitted VAT returns declaring sales, net of VAT, totalling...

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) seized funds from the bank account of Emmanuel Okoyomon, a former executive of Nigerian Security Printing & Minting Plc, as part of a continuing illicit cash probe, following a brief hearing on 20 May 2024 at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, the SFO said. The agency says Okoyomon allegedly obtained the money from Peter Chapman, whom the SFO convicted during a corruption inquiry into overseas contracts for polymer banknotes. Chapman is alleged to have paid more than US$200,000 in kickbacks across Asia and Africa to win work for the Australian banknote paper supplier, Securrency...

In this issue: Probate Court of Protection UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals updates Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Insolvency—Private Client Digital assets and cryptoassets Charity and philanthropy Contentious trusts and estates Pensions, insurance and tax efficient investments International Question of the week Additional Private Client updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts LexTalk®Private Client: a Lexis®PSL community New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Latest Q&As Useful information Probate HMCTS probate enquiry line—temporary reduced hours From 14 February 2024, and for 12 weeks, the HMCTS probate helpline will run on reduced hours: 9am to 1pm, Monday to Friday. The HMCTS Probate Service remains available via web‑chat from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Source: HMCTS Probate LinkedIn post. MoJ urges those entitled to claim dormant funds held by CFO to act now The Ministry of Justice...

PI & Clinical negligence horizon scanner—July 2025 [Archived] ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and is not maintained. It summarises the principal legal developments relevant to personal injury and clinical negligence practitioners as at July 2025. For developments predating this horizon scanner, see PI and Clinical Negligence horizon scanning and key cases—overview. Key PI and clinical negligence developments The personal injury discount rate—a review In late 2024, the Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood MP, revealed the outcome of her five‑month review of the discount rate, initiated in July 2024. One month after the new +0.5% discount rate took effect, Thea Wilson (barrister at 12 King’s Bench Walk) assesses its impact on cases, the responses from claimant and defendant representatives, and the consequences of the change for legal practitioners. See News Analysis: The personal injury discount rate—a review. MoJ announces reduction in CFO’s interest rates The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has announced lower interest rates for the Courts Funds Office’s (CFO) special and basic accounts...

Good character requirement Pursuant to section 6(1) of the British Nationality Act 1981 (BNA 1981) and Sch 1, para 1(1)(b), anyone seeking naturalisation as a British citizen is required to be of good character. This good character test equally covers applicants aged ten or above who seek registration as British citizens. That said, the good character rule does not apply to several categories of applications, notably those brought under: the statelessness routes in BNA 1981, Sch 2 BNA 1981, section 4B, for an eligible individual with no nationality other than as a British Overseas citizen, British subject under BNA 1981, British protected person, or British National (Overseas) BNA 1981, section 4C, for an eligible person born between 1961 and 1983 BNA 1981, sections 4G–4I, for an eligible person who could not previously obtain citizenship because their natural father was not married to their mother (save that, for BNA 1981, section 4F applications, the pertinent registration ground is BNA 1981, sections 1(3),...

The Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 (IR 2016), SI 2016/1024, prescribe the framework for liquidation committees in both creditors’ voluntary windings-up and court windings-up, and for creditors’ committees in administrations and administrative receiverships (collectively, committees). General A committee offers the office-holder a forum for consultation on strategy, including how funds might be deployed for particular investigations; nevertheless, in practice such committees are rarely set up. A committee must not intrude upon the office-holder’s statutory duties, nor oblige them to act in a manner they consider inappropriate. In addition to any powers granted by the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986), the committee’s purpose is to assist the office-holder in performing their functions and to deal with the office-holder in whatever way may be agreed from time to time. For example, a liquidation committee provides both assistance and oversight in relation to the liquidation as a whole, with particular focus on the orderly realisation and administration of assets. In some instances, shareholders may be invited to participate on committees....