Legal News

In this issue: Wills Court of Protection UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals updates Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Regulatory compliance for Private Client 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 Lex Talk®Private Client: a Lexis+® community New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Latest Q& As Useful information Wills Challenge to Will fails but undue influence on lifetime gifts found ( Mac Dougall v Thomas). The Chancery Division ( Property, Trusts & Probate List) upheld Jeanne Mac Dougall’s 2011 Will; however, it determined that the 2008 dispositions of Peacehaven and Argyle Road were obtained by undue influence and ordered those transfers to be...

In this issue: Wills Probate Trusts UK taxation for Private Client Updates to HMRC Manuals Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Private Client regulatory compliance Private Client insolvency Disputed trusts and estates Art and heritage assets, landed estates and farming families Pensions, insurance and tax‑efficient investments Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland International Question of the week Further Private Client updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts Lex Talk®Private Client: a Lexis+® community Latest and revised content New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Latest Q& A Useful information Wills Contested Will claim for undue influence and lack of knowledge and approval failed ( Gill v Gill) The Chancery Division confirmed the 2011 Will as valid, rejecting the claimant’s case that it was the product of undue influence or that knowledge and approval were absent. It concluded the deceased appreciated the terms of the 2011 Will at the point of signing and understood its consequences. The court accepted that Ms Nijran, a solicitor, prepared the 2011 Will on the...

See Q& A: How would a divorce influence a Lasting Power of Attorney when one of the Attorneys is the donor’s ex-spouse, particularly regarding status and operation of the power?......

Understanding the farming business as a business Many farms still use long-standing structures that arose by habit, not strategy. Sole traders, informal partnerships and outdated partnership deeds are common. While once effective, such setups can cause major issues around succession, tax planning and involving the next generation. A corporate team can take a fresh, business-led view of the farm, asking: Who owns the land and other critical assets? Who manages daily operations? Who carries the risk and who enjoys the return? What is the enduring plan for succession? From this review, the team can confirm whether the current setup is fit for purpose or if an alternative — for example an updated partnership agreement, a company, a limited liability partnership, or a blended model — would better meet the family’s aims. Tax efficiency through joined-up advice Tax sits at the centre of most...

Hosking v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2026] UKFTT 406 ( TC) What are the practical implications of the case? This ruling offers guidance on the principles to apply when deciding whether a sequence of transfers forms part of a taxpayer’s “normal expenditure” for IHTA 1984, s 21. Where the taxpayer cannot evidence a particular commitment or resolution under which the transfers were made, the burden is on the taxpayer to show that, when considered alongside their other spending over a period, the transfers exhibited regularity, predictability and recurrence in relation to: the recipient/eligibility for benefit; the amount; and the number or frequency. The decision makes clear that it is not sufficient for a series of transfers simply to possess a recognisable common character or qualification for benefit to amount to normal expenditure. They must also be of an identifiable, fixed sum, or there must be a formula or...

Per HMRC guidance, anyone within their first four years of UK residence may claim relief from UK tax on overseas income and gains for the 2025–26 year, as long as they had been non-resident for more than ten consecutive tax years, and must do so by 31 January 2028. This relief can be applied flexibly to income and gains in years commencing with 2025–26. Yet HMRC notes that each year a claim is made, the person will forfeit their allowances, including those for income tax and capital gains tax. A new report from accountancy firm BDO says that uncertainty over tax is a major consideration for wealthy individuals weighing whether to depart the UK, per the report......

In this issue: Court of Protection UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals updates Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Regulatory compliance for Private Client Pensions, insurance and tax efficient investments International Question of the week Additional Private Client updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts Lex Talk®Private Client: a Lexis+® community New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Court of Protection Authorisation to withdraw life-sustaining treatment ( Royal Free London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust v RH (by his litigation friend, the Official Solicitor)) The Court of Protection approved the Trust’s bid to authorise the cessation or withholding of life-sustaining care for RH, a 35-year-old man without capacity. It found he lacked capacity to decide about treatment because he was gravely ill with irreversible multi-organ failure: a persistent bile leak, failing liver and kidneys, inadequate bone marrow and a non-functioning intestinal system, with life expectancy measured in weeks. The court determined that renal...

See Q& A: If executors are administering an estate where a property is being gifted to a specific beneficiary, what are the duties of the executor regarding the safeguarding and maintenance of the property? Executors must protect and look after any property earmarked for a named beneficiary, preserving it and its condition, until legal title is passed over to them......

People returning to the UK from Dubai may face a capital gains tax bill on assets sold while outside the UK, according to tax advisers The UK operates a strict statutory residency test that permits overseas tax residents to spend no more than 183 days in the UK before they are treated as UK tax residents for the whole fiscal year. If they become UK tax resident, their worldwide income and capital gains fall within the scope of UK taxation. A further 60 days is available only in 'exceptional circumstances'. Large numbers of UK citizens are heading back to the UK to avoid the fallout of the Iran war. In March 2026 alone, more than 122,000 British citizens flew back to Britain, including over 75,000 arriving from the UAE, according to the Foreign Office. The Foreign Office also notes that upwards of 5,700 British...

In this issue: Wills Probate Court of Protection Spouses, civil partners and cohabitants UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals updates Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Regulatory compliance for Private Client Digital assets and cryptoassets Charity and philanthropy Contentious trusts and estates Pensions, insurance and tax efficient investments Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland International Question of the week Additional Private Client updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts Lex Talk®Private Client: a Lexis+® community New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Latest Q& As Useful information Wills Will declared invalid for want of knowledge and approval ( Ugolor v Ugolor) The Chancery Division determined a challenge to a homemade Will said to have been executed by Pamela Ayodele Festous (the...

See Q& A: What is the correct approach to the minimum ownership period for BPR in relation to trustees of a will trust holding business assets that qualified for BPR on the testator’s death? Should the two-year period start again for the trustees, or can the successive transfer provisions offer support? This Q& A proceeds on the basis that the testator died on or after 22 March 2006......

R (on the application of Rokos) v HMRC [2026] EWHC 733 ( Admin) The taxpayer joined partnerships to avoid income tax by offsetting his shares of their losses against other income. He ultimately accepted he had no entitlement to loss relief in principle, yet contended HMRC could not refuse relief because it had not properly examined the partnerships’ returns and was now out of time. On that footing, he said HMRC’s amendments to his returns lacked lawful basis and were open to judicial review. Under the Taxes Management Act 1970: An HMRC officer may enquire into a partnership return by giving notice of that intention to the partner who made and delivered the return, or that partner’s successor, within 12 months of delivery where the return was on time: Section 12AC TMA 1970. When the enquiry ends, the officer issues a closure notice stating...

In this issue: Wills Court of Protection Elderly and vulnerable clients UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals updates Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Regulatory compliance for Private Client Family businesses and ownership structures Digital assets and cryptoassets Pensions, insurance and tax efficient investments Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland International Question of the week Additional Private Client updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts Lex Talk®Private Client: a Lexis+® community New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Wills Will challenge dismissed for lack of evidence ( Woolfson v Woolfson) The Chancery Division dismissed the claimant’s case and entered summary judgment for the defendants in probate proceedings concerning her late mother’s estate ( Ms Banks). Karen Woolfson contested the validity of her mother’s Will of 11 June 2018 and pursued various remedies, including declarations about rights to property. The central questions were whether she had advanced any arguable case with a real prospect of success based on lack of...

Mohammed v Ali and another [2026] EWHC 401 ( KB) What are the practical implications of the case? This judgment distils key rules for addressing contested assertions about a person’s ability to conduct litigation, with particular relevance to Traumatic Brain Injury ( TBI) claims. It consolidates earlier authorities which, as the judge at first instance observed, were ‘ad hoc’, with ‘significant differences’. The court delivers structured guidance for situations where one side contends there is a want of litigation capacity, yet that contention is challenged by another party, raised by the court itself, or undermined by conflicts within that party’s own evidence. Ought the court appoint a litigation friend on a precautionary footing, or instead fix a preliminary hearing to determine capacity as a discrete issue? The clear and succinct response is that, unless the opponent can show concrete prejudice, the question of...

See the Q& A: What is the legal stance where personal representatives have neglected to inform a beneficiary that the grant has been issued, and a two‑month delay has thereby prejudiced the beneficiary by leaving them with less time to issue their claim under the Inheritance ( Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, within the six‑month time limit for bringing proceedings? Is there any case law in which the PRs are criticised for such a delay in notifying beneficiaries? This query specifically concerns notification delays by PRs. The time limit in the 1975 Act The Inheritance ( Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 ( I( PFD) A 1975) provides that certain categories of persons, as listed in section 1, may bring proceedings on the ground that the disposition of the deceased’s estate effected by their Will, the law of intestacy, or both in...

UT overturns case management directions relating to witness evidence ( L Rowland & Co ( Retail) Ltd v HMRC) L Rowland & Co ( Retail) Ltd v HMRC [2026] UKUT 130 ( TCC). The substantive appeal concerns whether approximately 1,400 locum pharmacists engaged by the taxpayer were self-employed or employees for PAYE and NICs. The taxpayer maintains the locums were self-employed, while HMRC contends they were employees. The taxpayer declined to permit HMRC access to the locums as witnesses and indicated it would seek judicial review of any approach by HMRC. In case management, the FTT directed the identification of ten further locums as witnesses of fact to give evidence in the appeal, noting the taxpayer had produced only two locum witness statements. The directions further contemplated that, if the taxpayer did not call those witnesses voluntarily, the FTT itself could issue witness...

UT overturns case management directions relating to witness evidence ( L Rowland & Co ( Retail) Ltd v HMRC) L Rowland & Co ( Retail) Ltd v HMRC [2026] UKUT 130 ( TCC) The substantive appeal centres on whether roughly 1,400 locum pharmacists engaged by the taxpayer were self-employed or employees for PAYE and NICs purposes, with the taxpayer maintaining that the locums were self-employed and HMRC asserting that they were employees. The taxpayer refused HMRC access to the locums as witnesses and indicated it would seek judicial review of any approach made to them by HMRC. In case management, the FTT issued directions requiring the identification of ten further locums as witnesses of fact whose evidence could be relied upon at the substantive hearing, as the taxpayer had produced only two locum witness statements. If the taxpayer chose not to call these...

In this issue: Probate Trusts Elderly and vulnerable clients UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals updates Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Regulatory compliance for Private Client Budgets and Finance Bills Charity and philanthropy Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland International Question of the week Additional Private Client updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts Lex Talk®Private Client: a Lexis+® community New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Probate Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave Regulations 2026 ( SI 2026/237): these Regulations create a new statutory entitlement for an employee to take time off to care for a child during the first year following birth, placement for adoption, or arrival in Great Britain for an overseas adoption, where the child’s primary carer has died (bereaved partner’s paternity leave). They take effect on 6 April 2026. See: LNB News 15/01/2026 18. Trusts Representation orders in Public Trustee v Cooper applications ( Cator v Thynn): this application, brought within a Public Trustee v Cooper claim, sought to add an...

See Q& A: What is the definition of an 'undivided share of an interest in land' for the purposes of section 102B of the Finance Act 1986? Section 102B of the Finance Act 1986 ( FA 1986) sets out how an individual's disposal of an undivided interest in land is treated when assessing whether that transaction constitutes a gift with a reservation of benefit under the legislation concerned......

In this issue: Trusts Court of Protection Elderly and vulnerable clients Spouses, civil partners and cohabitants UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals updates Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Budgets and Finance Bills Insolvency— Private Client Charity and philanthropy Contentious trusts and estates Art and heritage property, landed estates and farming families Pensions, insurance and tax efficient investments Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland International Question of the week Additional Private Client updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts Lex Talk®Private Client: a Lexis+® community New and updated content New starter content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Trusts Amendment to the Child Trust Funds Regulations 2026 On 9 March 2026, the government released the Child Trust Funds ( Amendment) Regulations 2026. With effect from 6 April 2026, cryptoasset exchange traded notes (c ETNs) will not be eligible to be held within a Child Trust Fund. c ETNs already in a child trust fund before 6 April 2026 may remain in the account. See: Policy paper: Child Trust Funds (...