Special trust meaning

In this issue: Probate Elderly and vulnerable clients Spouses, civil partners and cohabitants UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals updates Budgets and Finance Bills Digital assets and cryptoassets 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 Court Funds Office reduces special and basic accounts interest rate Effective 12 June 2024, the Court Funds Office lowered interest across special and basic accounts. Rates on special accounts shifted from 6.00% to 5.25%, while basic accounts dropped from 5.00% to 3.94%. See LNB News 16/07/2024 55. For a roundup of key rates relevant to Private Client work, refer to Practice Note: Key interest rates—Private Client. Elderly and vulnerable clients Discrimination challenge over social care charging policy (R (YVR (a...

Context The Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 (W(SM)A 2025) was brought before Parliament on 4 September 2024 and attained Royal Assent on 24 February 2025. It stems from broad dissatisfaction with the behaviour and performance of water and sewerage undertakers across England and Wales. Public trust has been undermined by repeated pollution control failures, chronic underinvestment in infrastructure, and the awarding of executive bonuses. In 2022–2023, £9.7m in bonuses and benefits went to senior executives, even as serious pollution incidents increased. Four companies were responsible for over 90% of those incidents. Ofwat research found only a quarter of customers believed water companies act in the public interest. In response, the government pledged legislation to hold poor performers to account, bolster regulatory powers, and start restoring confidence. W(SM)A 2025 is presented as the first step in a broader, continuing reform programme. Key provisions Remuneration and governance W(SM)A 2025 gives Ofwat the authority to stop water companies granting performance-related bonuses where minimum performance thresholds are missed. In setting...

Irwin Mitchell Trust Corp v PW [2024] EWCOP 16 What are the practical implications of this case? A Deputy is a fiduciary and must not place itself in arrangements where duty and self-interest collide. This judgment indicates that principle has been overlooked in practice, fostering a sizeable - and lucrative - habit of appointing linked investment managers or advisers. The ruling is, accordingly, a significant restatement of the law and a clear signal that the court will not accept intentional conflicts of interest. The potential financial fallout for the businesses involved (and not only Irwin Mitchell) could be considerable. What was the background? PW lacked capacity to manage her property and affairs. Irwin Mitchell’s Trust Corporation (IMTC) was appointed as Deputy. After a process assessing other asset managers alongside IMAM, in which PW’s husband participated, IMAM was chosen to oversee her investments. Some time later an application for a statutory Will was made, and during that process the Official Solicitor (OS) identified a potential conflict arising...

There are several routes, both uncontested and contested, to remove a personal representative; below is an outline of each method. Renunciation An executor can disclaim the right to apply for a grant of probate by a signed, witnessed written renunciation filed at the probate registry (see Practice Note: Removal, renunciation and retirement of personal representatives). Renunciation is barred where the executor has already intermeddled with the estate (see Practice Note: Intermeddling in an estate). By contrast, an administrator need not make any statement about intermeddling. A template for administrators’ renunciation appears in Form PA16. If an executor declines to renounce or to extract probate at that stage, the proving executors may obtain probate with power reserved to that executor instead (see Practice Note: The type of grant needed). Passing over–section 116 Senior Courts Act 1981 Under section 116 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 (SCA 1981), the court can, in special circumstances, if necessary or expedient, pass over the person otherwise entitled to the grant—even one...

Types of special purpose vehicle and orphan trust The deployment of special purpose vehicle structures is widespread in aviation finance. They offer lenders several advantages, including tax benefits and a bankruptcy-remote platform for the financing. A special purpose vehicle (SPV), also known as a single purpose company (SPC), is a legal entity established for a limited aim; in aviation finance this is commonly to own an aircraft for a particular transaction. There are numerous forms of SPV used in aviation finance, with the principal categories being: subsidiary companies orphan trusts limited partnerships Each of these is considered below. The type of SPV selected will vary on a transaction-by-transaction basis. Subsidiary companies Subsidiary companies are typically limited liability companies incorporated in a tax-friendly jurisdiction...

ESPS (ESPS) is a trust-based arrangement created by an Electricity Council resolution on 20 January 1983 as an industry-wide pension for employees of the nationalised electricity sector. It remained a single scheme at privatisation on 31 March 1990, after which it was divided into separate sections or ‘Groups’. The rules are not publicly accessible. For further information on statutory protections for ESPS members following privatisation, see Practice Note: —Protected Persons. Each principal electricity company participating in the ESPS forms its own Group; there are currently 23 Groups. Some Groups have a single participating employer, while others have several. Each Group is actuarially independent, with its assets and liabilities assessed on a standalone basis... Although a common scheme-wide benefit structure applied at the point of privatisation, since then each Group has been able to offer different benefits to its members. The ESPS rules comprise a central set of clauses and provisions governing matters that apply across the scheme, with Group-specific rules appended as Schedules. This Practice Note outlines the...

I direct my trustees to hold [ my residuary estate ] on trust for those of my children who survive me and attain 18 years, and, if more than one, distribute it in equal shares absolutely...

This Q&A assumes that the trust corporation is a company incorporated and registered in the UK under the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) CA 2006 sets the framework for how a company formed under that Act allots and issues its shares. The exact process varies by the nature of the company proposing the allotment and factors such as whether it has a single share class or several classes already in issue. For further detail, see the sub-topic: Allotment, issue and pre-emption—overview, with particular reference to the Practice Note: Allotment and issue of shares—introductory points. For guidance on the consequences of breaching the CA 2006 provisions on allotting and issuing shares, consult Practice Note: Allotment and issue of shares—penalties...

Various statutes govern the exercise of trustee powers. A range of statutes regulates how trustee powers are exercised. For the purposes of this response, it is taken that the trust contains no special or unusual terms or purposes. In those circumstances, the Trustee Act 1925 (TA 1925) and the Trustee Act 2000 (TrA 2000) are likely to be the principal statutory frameworks. As a general rule, there will be no more than four trustees (TA 1925, s 34), and trustees are under a duty to reach decisions that accord with the trust’s purposes and powers. They must act in good faith and eschew conflicts of interest. Decisions should be taken on an informed footing, and the usual position for private trusts (as opposed to, for instance, charitable trusts) is that trustees are required to act unanimously rather than by majority...