Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Sayers v Dixon: IA 1986 s 423 sets aside interspousal asset protection trusts; trusts and loan held shams; no automatic spousal entitlement; change of position rejected [2025] EWHC 1886 (Ch)

Published on: 13 August 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Restructuring & Insolvency expert

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Article summary

(Sayers and another v Dixon and another [2025] EWHC 1886 (Ch)) What are the practical implications of this case?

Mr Dixon created the DoTs without any particular creditor in view. It was only six years later that HMRC issued a bankruptcy petition seeking £627,302 for unpaid self-assessment tax, penalties and surcharges; at the time of execution, HMRC was not within his contemplation. Following his bankruptcy in August 2017, he attempted to rely on the DoTs, asserting that he had shed all assets and income; that everything received since September 2010 was his wife’s or sums loaned by her; and that he had no means. The long interval between the DoTs and his bankruptcy did not assist him. The judgment demonstrates that IA 1986, s 423 can, in principle, be used to attack transactions concluded many years earlier if the statutory criteria are satisfied. Nor did it help that HMRC was not contemplated by Mr Dixon when the DoTs were made, because the class...

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