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R (Greyhound Board of Great Britain Ltd) v Welsh Ministers [2026] EWHC 670 (Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? The ruling reinforces the constitutional divide between the courts and the legislature. It explains that the scheme and framework of the Government of Wales Act 2006 (GWA 2006) embody that separation of powers, and that any judicial attempt to recognise and enforce a common law obligation on Welsh Ministers to consult prior to introducing legislation in the Senedd would trespass upon that boundary. This is not a departure from established principle; case law has already upheld comparable rules for lawmakers in Scotland and at Westminster. However, this is the first express confirmation of the position for Welsh lawmakers, and the first time this dimension of the GWA 2006 has been analysed in such depth. The court examined earlier
The solution arrived through the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), a quasi‑judicial body handling mass claims, created under UN Security Council Resolution 687. By addressing environmental harm—most notably via its ‘F4’ claim class—the UNCC set a seminal benchmark shaping how international law and contemporary arbitral panels allocate financial responsibility for wartime ecological devastation. With present-day wars in areas such as Eastern Europe and the Middle East bringing dam breaches, strikes on chemical facilities, and the burning of farmland, the UNCC’s legacy endures as an essential reference point for states, global investors, and companies engaged in post‑conflict arbitration. The F4 claims: Quantifying the unquantifiable Prior to the 1990s, mechanisms in international law for war reparations overwhelmingly favoured property loss, foregone earnings, and bodily injury. The natural world was commonly treated as a mute, non-compensable victim of armed hostilities...
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 Sole traders, informal partnerships and outdated partnership deeds are common.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
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Oliver v Oliver [2024] EWHC 2289 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? This judgment stands as an uncommon instance of a Will being set aside for both want of testamentary capacity and undue influence despite professional preparation, the court having the testator’s recorded instructions, and a certificate obtained from the testator’s GP. It merits close reading for its survey of authority and its demonstration of the application of legal principles in real cases, including where a defendant declines to engage with the proceedings. The court concluded that William lacked testamentary capacity after a detailed evaluation of his medical notes (including a post-mortem), expert opinion from a Consultant in Old Age Psychiatry, and witness evidence. Although a determination on undue influence was not required, the reasoning still provides a helpful illustration of a successful claim. Jane adduced...
Autumn Budget 2024: Impact on Private Clients Follow the link to watch the video: Autumn Budget 2024: Impact on Private Clients...
In this issue: Budgets and Finance Bills Court of Protection UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals updates Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance 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& A Useful information Budgets and Finance Bills Autumn Budget 2024 The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, presented the government’s Autumn Budget on Wednesday, 30 October 2024. For analysis of the consultations and statements pertinent to Private Client practitioners, see News Analyses: Autumn Budget 2024— Private Client analysis and Video analysis— Autumn Budget 2024: initial reaction from Harriet Brown, barrister at Old Square Tax Chambers. For coverage of the corporate tax themes, see News Analyses: Autumn Budget 2024— Tax analysis and Video analysis— Autumn Budget 2024: initial reaction from John Endacott, Head of Tax at PKF Francis Clark. Many of the tax...
Sammut (on his behalf and as administrator of the Estate of Paul Sammut) and others v Next Steps Mental Healthcare Ltd (formerly K Bond Healthcare Ltd t/a Next Steps) and another [2024] EWHC 2265 ( KB) What are the practical implications of this case? The result of the case exposes an anomaly stemming from YL v Birmingham City [2007] UKHL 27, and the subsequent, partial legislative rollback of that ruling’s effect in defined categories of situation across specified cases (originally through section 145 Health and Social Care Act 2008 ( HSCA 2008), now replaced by the current provision CA 2014, s 73). In YL, the House of Lords, by a majority, determined that private care home operators and providers delivering community care were not performing a public function for the purposes of HRA 1998, s 6(3)(b). Significantly, the majority drew a...
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, delivered the government’s Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024 Keenly awaited and watched, this was the first Budget from a Labour administration in fourteen years, and the first ever presented by a woman Chancellor. Many headline measures for Private Clients had been trailed in one form or another, and several of the changes—such as the Capital Gains Tax reforms—were not as draconian as many had feared, proving less severe than anticipated. It was definitely a Labour Budget, unmistakably Labour in flavour, with the Chancellor honouring election pledges not to raise income tax or National Insurance for ‘working people’, and instead securing the £40bn of tax rises by lifting employers’ National Insurance, narrowing the scope of IHT agricultural and business property reliefs, increasing CGT rates, reforming the taxation of carried interest, changing the rules for non‑ UK...
Hill and another v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2024] UKFTT 844 ( TC) What are the practical implications of this case? The tribunal found the taxpayers’ evidence lacking, even though they seemingly depended entirely on professional advice. In particular, it concluded that, when given vague and uncertain guidance by their advisers, the taxpayers could not simply remain passive; further action was required to demonstrate a reasonable excuse that would prevent liability for failing to comply with an Information Notice, or alternatively to lessen the penalty imposed. In delivering the judgment, the judge set out, from an objective standpoint, a series of conclusions describing how a reasonable and prudent taxpayer should have acted on the facts. The message was that passivity in the face of unclear professional input falls short of what a diligent taxpayer should do, and that only active engagement could support...
In this issue: Budgets and Finance Bills Probate Court of Protection Elderly and vulnerable clients Spouses, civil partners and cohabitants UK taxes for Private Client Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance HMRC Manuals updates Insolvency— Private Client Pensions, insurance and tax-efficient investments Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland International Question of the 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 Budgets and Finance Bills Autumn Budget 2024 Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, will present the Autumn Budget on Wednesday 30 October 2024. As is our practice, we will produce overnight analysis of the principal business tax announcements from the Autumn Budget, which will be available on the morning of...
See Q& A: A deceased individual held agricultural land in their sole name, used for sheep and cattle farming as a sole trader. They were also a partner with their spouse in a partnership operating a poultry farming business. The partnership owned no land, but among its assets was a poultry house situated on part of the agricultural land. The bulk of the land was employed in the deceased’s sole trader sheep and cattle enterprise. There was no formal arrangement covering the poultry house’s use of the land. Can agricultural property relief be claimed on all the land (including the area occupied by the poultry house) and business property relief on the partnership (encompassing the poultry house)? For broad guidance on agricultural property relief ( APR) and business property relief ( BPR) and the qualifying criteria for each, see Practice Notes:...
In this issue: Budgets and Finance Bills Wills Probate HMRC Manuals updates Insolvency— 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 Budgets and Finance Bills Autumn Budget 2024 The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, is scheduled to present the Autumn Budget on Wednesday 30 October 2024. As is our practice, we will provide overnight commentary on the principal business tax measures announced, ready for you on the morning of Thursday 31 October 2024. Budget Responsibility Act 2024 provisions come into force The Budget...
The Treasury announced in a news release that, next month, the jurisdiction’s Parliament will receive legislation to enact the qualified domestic minimum top-up tax ( QDMTT) alongside the income inclusion rule ( IIR) for consideration......
See Q& A: Where there are two executors of an estate and the first wishes to administer the estate alone, but the second objects and wants to participate, can the first apply for a grant on their own, without the second executor’s consent, and simply and formally serve notice on the second executor in accordance with the Non- Contentious Probate Rules 1987, r 27(1); or must the second executor instead have power reserved so that they may ultimately apply for a grant at a later point in time thereafter? If someone appointed as an executor in a Will does not wish to act immediately, but intends to reserve the right to come in and prove at a later stage, then, provided that more than one executor was appointed by the testator and at least one of the others is both ready and willing to take out a...
Al Hamed v Al Hamed [2024] EWHC 2448 ( Comm) What are the practical implications of this case? The Court expressed marked dissatisfaction with how the defendants’ team advanced their application. Their application notice was said to be unhelpfully bare: it merely indicated that the Court would be invited to decline to exercise jurisdiction by reference to a witness statement, yet it set out no grounds and attached no draft order. Although a witness statement from Mr Farani did articulate certain bases of challenge, the alleged failures of material disclosure or fair presentation were not spelled out with sufficient clarity or particularity. The Court, meanwhile, granted permission for expert evidence concerning the ADCC Judgment. The claimants place reliance on two reports prepared by Nasser Al Osaiba. The defendants wish to depend on a report authored by Khalid Atiq Al‑ Marri. However, Mr Al‑ Marri’s report omits an...
The Trustees of the Panico Panayi Accumulation and Maintenance Settlements Numbers to 4 and Redevco Properties UK1 Ltd v HMRC [2024] UKUT 319 ( TCC) In relation to the trustee appellant, the majority of the trustees of the relevant settlement ceased to be UK resident, instead becoming resident in Cyprus, in August 2004. The company appellant transferred its place of effective management to the Netherlands in January 2008. HMRC served closure notices on the appellants, including assessments under the exit charge provisions in the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, ss 80 and 185 respectively. In the trustees’ case, the FTT sought a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union, which led to a CJEU judgment in September 2017 confirming that a trust could benefit from the four EU law freedoms and that imposing an immediate tax charge at the exit date was a...
In this issue: Probate Trusts Court of Protection UK taxes for private clients Spouses, civil partners and cohabitants HMRC Manuals updates Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Family enterprises and ownership models 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 Probate Law Commission launches consultation on burial and cremation laws The Law Commission has opened a consultation to modernise burial and cremation law, parts of which are more than 170 years old. Draft proposals cover regulation of burial grounds; grave re-use and...
Jassal v Shah [2024] EWHC 2214 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? With practitioners still waiting for the Supreme Court’s decision on whether success fees can be recovered under the Inheritance ( Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 ( I( PFD) A 1975), the High Court has resolved a different, perhaps unexpected, issue that strikes at the core of costs. May an I( PFD) A 1975 claimant receive an allowance for their legal costs within the substantive award? The court’s response is an emphatic ‘no’: costs fall to be determined later, via a distinct process. Yet James Pickering KC, acting as a Deputy High Court Judge, plainly recognised the troubling ramifications of that conclusion. More than ten years have passed since Mr Justice Briggs (as he then was) voiced a ‘real sense of unease’ in Lilleyman v...
In this issue: Probate Court of Protection UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals updates Insolvency— Private Client Digital assets and cryptoassets Contentious trusts and estates International Question of the week Additional Private Client updates this week HMLR updates Practice Guide 1 and form FR1 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 Probate Direct payment scheme for IHT—extended to investment providers The direct payment facility enabling personal representatives to settle inheritance tax ( IHT) from the deceased’s funds has been widened to include investment providers. See: LNB News 01/10/2024 8. Court of Protection Complex clinical issues and avoiding delay in SMT applications ( Re PG, Serious Medical Treatment) In this ruling, Mr Justice Cobb analyses the intricate and demanding clinical considerations around investigating and treating suspected gynaecological cancer for PG, a 57-year-old woman with a confirmed diagnosis of schizophrenia, accompanied by paranoid and persecutory delusional beliefs. Cobb J...
See Q& A: A and B are beneficiaries under a Will, and B holds a life interest in a property. A now wishes to sell the property and split the net sale proceeds equally with B. How can A bring B’s life interest trust to an end? B has learning difficulties. It is understood the Will directs that certain assets are to be held on trust for B (the sister) for life, with the remainder to pass to A (the client). Where every beneficiary of a trust is of full age and has mental capacity, they can jointly require the trust to be terminated and the assets transferred to them accordingly......
According to a statement from the EU’s highest court, applications for preliminary rulings will continue to be lodged with the European Court of Justice, which will first examine the subject matter of each case. Once that review is complete, any request found to fall solely within one or more defined fields now overseen by the General Court will be redirected to that tribunal there......
Hill and another v HMRC [2024] UKFTT 844 ( TC) Mr Hill and Mr Mc Cracken served as administrators of two pension schemes that were managed on their behalf by Liddell Dunbar Ltd, a company which subsequently entered liquidation. In January 2018, HMRC formally sent information notices to both men in their capacity as scheme administrators. Their advisers, Independent Tax ( IT), informed them that, because the scheme had been wound up, there ‘should be no need to respond’ to the notices, and advised accordingly. A review by HMRC was then requested; the review upheld the information notices, albeit with certain elements varied. No appeal was lodged against the notices at that stage. HMRC proceeded to issue £300 penalties for failure to comply to the administrators and, in February 2019, followed up with daily penalties being imposed by HMRC. HMRC wrote to the...
Marcus v Marcus [2024] EWHC 2086 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? Master Marsh provided a helpful distillation of the rules governing the construction of trusts. He found that, absent clear wording to the contrary, ‘children’ typically excludes stepchildren. Nevertheless, he considered the broader familial setting and assessed how a reasonable reader, armed with the settlor’s knowledge, would interpret the language. The decision underscores the sorts of issues now emerging within contemporary family arrangements and the resulting complexities for private client practitioners. He noted the instrument followed a conventional approach, identifying ‘children’ as a class rather than naming beneficiaries. Even so, it is a prompt to draft with accuracy and care when preparing trusts or other legal documents, and in particular to address the status of non‑biological relatives. What was the background? The settlor, Stuart Marcus, was a prosperous...
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When evaluating a general damages claim, the practitioner ought initially to refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG)...
This Practice Note This Practice Note reviews mechanisms used in settling litigation. A Tomlin order consists of a consent order paired with a schedule. It operates to stay proceedings on terms that have been agreed. The provisions contained in the schedule may remain confidential. This Practice Note describes the scope of confidentiality attaching to the schedule and sets out how it differs from a standard consent order. Sample wording for a Tomlin order is included, alongside links to precedents, as well as guidance on court approval. It also addresses varying, setting aside and enforcing a Tomlin order, including the considerations the court will take into account when handling applications for each. Further guidance is provided on interpreting and applying the relevant provisions of the CPR; however, some courts and divisions impose very specific requirements for both drafting and approval, and for approaching the schedule and confidentiality issues. Accordingly, you must consider the particular rules and court guide provisions in the forum where your claim is proceeding when drawing up the Tomlin order...
Date [ date ] Parties [ name of Landlord ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Landlord) [ name of Tenant ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Tenant) [ [ name of Guarantor ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Guarantor) ] [ [ name of Mortgagee ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Mortgagee) ] Definitions Within this Deed, the terms below shall be interpreted as follows: [ Annual Rent • the annual sum reserved under the Lease; ] [ Insurance Rent • the Tenant’s share of the Landlord’s costs of insuring the Property (as set out in the Lease); ] Lease • the lease of the Property dated [ date ], entered into between (1) [ the Landlord OR [ name ...
I, [ name ], of [ address ], solemnly and sincerely state that: [ Matters to be verified, set out in numbered paragraphs ] I make this solemn statement in good conscience, believing it to be true, and pursuant to the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. DECLARED at [ details ] this [ day ] day of [ month and year ] Before me ................................................................................ [ signature of the person before whom the declaration is made ] A [ commissioner for oaths OR [ solicitor OR [ insert other qualification ] ] authorised to administer oaths ]...
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