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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 Sole traders, informal partnerships and outdated partnership deeds are common.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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MBP Europe Ltd v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 1069 ( TC) The appellant believed a direct debit mandate was in place to ensure VAT liabilities were settled on time. HMRC had, however, revoked that direct debit. In May 2024, HMRC posted a letter advising that the appellant was being moved to the payments on account regime, and that VAT for the quarterly VAT return to 30 September 2024 had to be paid by 31 August 2024, 30 September 2024 and 31 October 2024. The appellant did not receive this letter, so was unaware that VAT fell due on those dates, expecting instead that the VAT for the period would be collected automatically by direct debit during November 2024. On 18......
Tajinder Pawar v HMRC [2025] UKUT 309 ( TCC) The dispute concerned the taxpayer’s late application for permission to appeal against HMRC’s review decision that confirmed a PLN issued to him. That PLN transferred to him penalties that had first been assessed on a company of which he was both director and shareholder, arising from VAT return inaccuracies. The First-tier Tribunal ( FTT) refused permission pursuant to section 83G(6) of the Value Added Tax Act 1994, applying the Upper Tribunal’s three-stage approach in Martland. Under that approach, the tribunal must: (i) determine how long the delay was; (ii) identify the reason or reasons for the delay; and (iii) consider all the circumstances, weighing the cogency of the explanation for the delay and any prejudice that granting or refusing permission would cause to each side, while giving particular weight to the need for...
What are the practical implications of this case? The central question on this appeal was whether the pension drawdowns were ‘paid in consideration of employment’. HMRC argued that moving occupational pension entitlements to a SIPP, essentially an investment product that does not require employment as a condition, severed the necessary link to the original employment and meant the pension could be taxed in the UK. As many of the UK’s DTCs with other jurisdictions include wording similar to the UK– Portugal DTC, the outcome may have significant consequences for expats whose situations resemble that of the appellant. The First-tier Tribunal Tax ( FTT) offers helpful clarification of the principles to be applied when deciding whether there is a sufficiently strong connection between an expat’s pension withdrawals and their former employment in such cases......
In this issue: Trusts Court of Protection Elderly and vulnerable clients UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals updates Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Budgets and Finance Bills Insolvency— Private Client Contentious trusts and estates Pensions, insurance and tax efficient investments Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland 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 Trusts Chancery Division finds trust was legally constituted ( Hilton v Woolfe) In a probate dispute concerning management of the Rutland Trust, created under the will of John Keeling Walker, the Chancery Division determined that the trust took legal effect on the grant of probate dated 30...
See Q& A: A protectively issued claim under the Inheritance ( Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 is scheduled to be resolved through mediation. As more than two years have elapsed since the date of death, the parties cannot obtain any retrospective tax treatment linked to a Deed of Variation in these circumstances now......
In this issue: Wills Probate Trusts Court of Protection UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals tracker Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Regulatory compliance for Private Client Charity and philanthropy 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 Court treats gifts to specified charitable bodies as directed to their charitable purposes, rather than contingent on those bodies still existing when the testatrix died ( British Camelids Ltd (personal representative of Candia Midworth) v Brooke Hospital for Animals). The Chancery Division considered a will executed on 29 September 1994 that distributed the residuary estate among a range of beneficiaries, including charities. It held that the charitable legacies named in the will should be interpreted as for the fulfilment of charitable aims, not as conditional upon the continued legal...
See Q& A: If a witness to a Will is under the age of 18, does that invalidate the Will? Section 9 of the Wills Act 1837 explains the formalities for a valid will. These state as follows: (a) the will has to be in writing; (b) it must be signed by the testator, or by another person in his presence and at his direction; (c) it must appear that......
In this issue: Probate Elderly and vulnerable clients UK taxation for Private Client HMRC Manuals updates Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Regulatory compliance for Private Client Budgets and Finance Bills 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& A Useful information Probate HMCTS Probate Service Professional User Group information session HMCTS Probate will host an online briefing for professional users of the probate service on Thursday, 24 September 2025, from 12 noon to 1 pm. The session will provide a general service update and an opportunity to raise queries on more complex matters, including cases involving orders, subpoenas and summons. Where feasible, the team will offer support on specific...
Tinkler v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 1016 ( TC) The taxpayer filed returns over seven years on the footing that he himself ran a single trade comprising horse breeding alongside the training and racing of horses. HMRC opened enquiries and served closure notices which, in six of those years, asserted that the trading losses had been exaggerated. HMRC further maintained that, in its view, the taxpayer conducted a trade as a breeder, but that the horse racing activity did not amount to a trade. This led to a significant reduction in the overall quantum of the losses. In the seventh year the taxpayer showed a profit; the closure notice stated that this profit was overstated on the same footing. Ahead of the appeal, HMRC produced a statement of case setting out several alternative contentions. The taxpayer asked the FTT for a...
Lexgreen Services Ltd Acting as settlor for a connected trust, Lexgreen Services Ltd has been found liable for over £155,000 in inheritance tax, plus interest, on the £6.5m accumulated in the trust since its creation in 2005, the First-tier Tribunal decided on 21 August 2025. In confirming HM Revenue & Customs ( HMRC) 2015 assessment on the trust’s ten-year anniversary, the tribunal rejected Lexgreen’s argument that only human settlors owe inheritance tax. Lexgreen maintained that corporations are excluded from statute, the Inheritance Tax Act 1984, which includes a charge arising on a trust’s ten-year anniversary, on the trust’s decennial anniversary under the Act......
Johnson v His Majesty’s Attorney General [2025] EWHC 1943 ( Ch) Practical implications of the case The practical consequences of this ruling extend beyond probate practitioners and the comparatively limited sphere of sealing Wills. Historically, this practice has chiefly been considered in relation to Wills of the Royal Family. As noted by the judge at paragraph 25, there is a long‑standing custom for the wills of senior members of the Royal Family to be sealed, the latest example being In re the Will of His Late Royal Highness The Prince Duke of Edinburgh [2021] EWHC 77 ( Fam) (the ‘ Duke of Edinburgh case’). In that application, the executor secured an order that Prince Philip’s Will be sealed, that no copy be created for the record or retained on the court file, and that the value of his estate be excluded from the grant of...
In this issue: Trusts Powers of attorney and advance decisions UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals updates Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Contentious trusts and estates Pensions, insurance and tax-efficient investments Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland 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 Trusts TPR acts against trustees over ERI breaches involving prohibited loans and loss of scheme funds The Pensions Regulator ( TPR) has issued a report under section 89 of the Pensions Act 2004, emphasising the grave ramifications for trustees who breach the employer-related investment ( ERI) rules. It outlines enforcement measures taken against two former trustees of the...
In this issue: Probate Court of Protection Elderly and vulnerable clients Spouses, civil partners and cohabitants UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals tracker Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Family businesses and ownership structures 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& A Useful information Probate HM Land Registry updates Practice Guide 6— Devolution on the death of a registered proprietor HM Land Registry ( HMLR) has revised Practice Guide 6— Devolution on the death of a registered proprietor. Section 6 now aligns with HMLR’s refreshed approach to first...
See Q& A: If a last surviving executor dies after probate has been granted, but there are executors who reserved power to apply for a double grant of probate, who will continue the administration of the estate? Under section 7(1) of the Administration of Estates Act 1925 ( AEA 1925), the person who is executor to a sole, or to the final surviving, executor of a testator is treated as the testator’s executor. This principle is known as the chain of representation......
HMCTS insisted it acted swiftly on a technical bug which affected documents on its digital platform, adding that it did not change the outcome of any cases. An HMCTS spokesperson said an internal review found no indication that the technical problems altered any case outcomes. The agency was answering a BBC report that accused it of a cover‑up, after a leaked document suggested HMCTS failed to address an IT fault that led to case evidence going missing, being overwritten, or apparently disappearing. The BBC further claimed that judges in the civil, family and tribunal courts reached decisions with incomplete material as a consequence. Publication of the findings led the Bar Council to demand......
In this issue: Trusts Spouses, civil partners and cohabitants UK taxation for Private Client HMRC Manuals revisions Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Insolvency— Private Client Contentious trusts and estates 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 bulletins Lex Talk® Private Client: a Lexis+® community New and refreshed content Dates for your diary Trackers Latest Q& As Useful information Trusts Insufficient evidence to establish beneficial interest ( Egbuna v IJ Investments Ltd) The King’s Bench Division rejected an appeal from a possession order, concluding that merely residing in a property does not confer a beneficial interest without adequate proof of financial contributions or a shared intention, even where the circumstances may appear unfair. The dispute related to a former matrimonial home acquired by the appellant’s ex-husband in 2005, which he sold in 2021 to IJI Ltd, a company controlled by solicitors acquainted with him; notably, the...
Company representatives attended Manchester Crown Court on 7 August 2025, after a charge was issued by the UK tax authorities alleging a failure to prevent the facilitation of UK tax evasion, in breach of section 45 of the Criminal Finances Act 2017.......
What was the background to this matter? The case related to the estate of Mr David Peace, who passed away at Dignitas in December 2021. Mr Peace was diagnosed with terminal motor neurone disease and was a prominent campaigner for legal reform on assisted dying in the UK. Shortly before his death, he executed a Will by which he bequeathed his flat to his friend Tim, who had travelled with him to Dignitas. In those circumstances, Tim had assisted in Mr Peace’s death and may have committed an offence under section 2 of the Suicide Act 1961. In principle, this would have engaged the forfeiture rule (i.e. that no individual should be permitted to profit from their own wrongdoing, as provided in section 1 of the Forfeiture Act 1982) and would have debarred Tim from inheriting under Mr Peace’s Will. In this matter, the other...
In this issue: Trusts Court of Protection Elderly and vulnerable clients UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals tracker Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance 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& A Useful information Trusts Of DIA launches call for views on UK trust services market development Trusts Of DIA launches call for views on UK trust services market development The Office for Digital Identities and Attributes ( Of DIA) has opened a call for views on uptake of trust services— including electronic...
See Q& A: If a person has owned and lived in a property as their primary home for the entire time they held it, can principal private residence relief apply to the gain when that property is split into two self-contained flats and each flat is subsequently sold to different purchasers?......
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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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