Legal Q&A

No particular claim form applies to proceedings that include a request for final injunctive relief. The standard factors for selecting the suitable claim form, as described in CPR 8.1, still apply. The principal question is usually whether the court will need to resolve a material factual dispute in order to determine the claim. While the Part 8 route may look simpler, opting for it can be tempting but, in practice, often results in increased costs and delay where the Part 7 procedure is more appropriate......

CPR 31.10 contains provisions for the disclosure of documents by way of a list. Obligations to disclose continue until the case is concluded. If additional documents are discovered after a list has been served, a supplementary list must be provided ( CPR PD 31A, para 3.3). For broader guidance on disclosure, see Practice Notes: Disclosure under CPR 31—introduction and Disclosure—standard disclosure and the reasonable search. When issuing directions, the court will fix the deadline by which the list must be served on the other party. CPR 31.21: a party cannot rely on a document it has not disclosed unless the court grants permission. CPR 32.10 (witness statements) and CPR 35.13 (experts’ reports) are framed so that, upon default, court permission is required to adduce or rely on that evidence. This points to an application for permission, rather than an...

Put simply, financial provision orders do not come into force until the decree is made absolute. This is set out expressly for lump sum and periodical payments orders in section 23(5) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 ( MCA 1973). As regards property transfer orders or settlements, the requirement appears in MCA 1973, s 24(3). See Practice Note: Implications of the death of a party......

For this Q& A, it is assumed that the claim continues within the Pre- Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents (the Protocol). Pre- Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents (the Protocol) Under paragraph 3.1, the Protocol’s objectives are to ensure that: the defendant meets damages and costs through the process prescribed by the Protocol, without the claimant having to issue proceedings; damages are paid within a reasonable period; and the claimant’s legal representative is paid the fixed costs at each relevant stage. Accordingly, the aims do not extend to circumstances in which a defendant may recover costs......

Where a surviving spouse holds an immediate post-death interest ( IPDI) in a qualifying residential interest (see section 8H, Inheritance Tax Act 1984), their residence nil rate band ( RNRB) can be increased by the transferable residence nil rate band ( TRNRB) of the predeceasing spouse, provided a claim is made in such circumstances as appropriate......

An unincorporated association is not a legal entity In principle, it lacks legal personality and therefore cannot bring or face proceedings in its own name; this was the stance in London Association for Protection of Trade v Greenlands Limited. The position was examined in detail in Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford v Broughton, a matter arising from a campaign by the Animal Liberation Front and related bodies. The conventional course is to seek a representation order, allowing a named member or office-holder to be joined as a party ‘on behalf of the members of the association’. Yet time pressures—particularly an approaching limitation deadline—may make obtaining such an order impracticable, prompting a prospective claimant to ask whether the association can be joined in its own name. As recorded in University of Oxford, there have been instances where the court has in fact made orders...

The appropriate section of the HMRC annual return to complete hinges on whether the relevant share appreciation right ( SAR) or restricted stock unit ( RSU) constitutes a securities option for the purposes of s 420(8) of the Income Tax ( Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003. In both scenarios, the award counts as a securities option if it grants a legal entitlement to obtain shares, and this, in turn, is determined in practice by the precise terms of the award concerning the method by which settlement may actually occur......

When two or more people jointly own land together, it is held on a trust of land. Under a trust of land, the legal and equitable estates are distinct and separate. The legal title must be held by the co-owners as joint tenants. The beneficial interest may, however, be held by the co-owners beneficially either as: joint tenants tenants in common If they are joint tenants in equity, each holds an indivisible, concurrent interest in it: every owner is entitled to the whole, not an identifiable fraction. The rule of survivorship operates so that, on the death of a joint tenant, the deceased’s interest passes automatically to the other(s). Where the equitable interest is taken as tenants in common, shares can be unequal, and a deceased owner’s portion does not pass to the survivor but instead forms part of the deceased’s estate. A tenancy in common may...

The Electronic Communications Code (the Code) The Electronic Communications Code (the Code) appears in Schedule 3A, Part 1 to the Communications Act 2003 ( CA 2003) and has applied in present incarnation since December 2017. Where a prior agreement has lapsed after 28 December 2017 and lacks protection under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 ( LTA 1954, ss 23–46) — in which event the LTA 1954 process must be used instead of the CA 2003, Sch 3A, Pt 5, para 33 route (see Vodafone v Hanover Capital) — either party is entitled to ask the tribunal to vary or replace the agreement by making an application seeking modification or replacement of the agreement......

The rules governing making a domicile election are contained within statutory sections 267ZA and 267ZB of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 ( IHTA 1984)......

As the individual was not domiciled in any part of the UK on death, only assets located in the UK may fall within the scope of inheritance tax ( IHT). Assets situated outside the UK are treated as excluded property under section 6 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 ( IHTA 1984) and, accordingly, do not comprise the deceased's estate as defined by IHTA 1984, s 5 ......

IR35 The off-payroll IR35 framework applies where: from 6 April 2017, the engager is a public authority; and from 6 April 2020, a private sector organisation (other than one that is ‘small’) hires a worker via an intermediary, for example a personal service company ( PSC). The legislation takes effect in respect of payments made on or after those dates, even where such payments relate to services delivered before those dates. This applies without regard to precisely when the work was performed. In essence, and in practical terms, the off-payroll IR35 rules move the task of deciding whether IR35 applies from the PSC to the end client in relevant cases and, where IR35 does apply, they place the duty to deduct income tax and National Insurance contributions ( NICs) on the party nearest to the PSC in the contractual chain (whether that is the end client...

What is the regulatory regime under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ( FSMA 2000) Under section 19 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the general prohibition applies: a person must not carry on a regulated activity in the UK, or even purport to do so, unless they are within one of the permitted categories below. An authorised person (that is, authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and/or the Financial Conduct Authority) An exempt person (for example, an appointed representative) For an outline of the UK regime governing regulated activities, see Practice Note: What are regulated activities? An activity is regulated if it is of a ‘specified kind’—as listed in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ( Regulated Activities) Order 2001 ( RAO 2001), SI 2001/544—and it is carried on by way of...

A Tier 2 ( General) migrant (the applicant) must observe any conditions attached to their leave. Examples include no recourse to public funds and a requirement to work mainly for the Tier 2 ( General) sponsor named on their Certificate of Sponsorship ( Co S). Supplementary employment is allowed, but only in limited circumstances in practice. See Practice Notes: Applying under the Skilled Worker route and Conditions of permission to enter or stay in the UK. If the applicant will no longer work for the sponsor listed on their Co S, they will not continue to meet the requirements of a Tier 2 ( General) visa. This is a frequent basis for mandatory curtailment under the Immigration Rules, Part 9, para 323A(i)(2). Curtailment is the process by which the Secretary of State for the Home Department shortens the existing leave of persons already in the UK....

Information on right to work checks generally can be found in the following Practice Notes: Right to work checks: when and why Right to work checks: how to conduct the check Illegal workers—civil and criminal sanctions Section 15(1) of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 ( IANA 2006) makes it unlawful to employ an adult who is subject to immigration control where they have either: not been granted permission to enter or remain in the UK, or permission that is invalid, has expired or otherwise ceased to have effect (for example, cancelled or curtailed), or is subject to a condition barring them from taking employment For more information, see the section of Practice Note: Right to work checks: when and why entitled ‘ Why’......

Minor children only We direct you to the Practice Note: Intestacy—priority to apply for grant— Q& As (see ' Particular relatives and entitlement to grant on intestacy', ' Minor children only'). Where the person who would otherwise receive a grant is a minor—for instance, where the deceased is survived by minor children but has no spouse or civil partner—rule 32 of the Non- Contentious Probate Rules 1987 ( NCPR 1987), SI 1987/2024, stipulates that a grant of administration for the minor’s use and benefit, limited until they attain the age of 18 years, is to be issued to a parent of the minor or to another person who holds parental responsibility......

Planning obligations and local land charges A planning obligation made under a section 106 agreement constitutes a local land charge for the purposes of the Local Land Charges Act 1975 ( LLCA 1975) and, accordingly, ought to be entered on the local land charges register as a local land charge. A local authority search should disclose planning obligations in relation to the property being searched against. If an obligation has not been recorded as a local land charge, it nonetheless binds a purchaser of the land, although the purchaser may seek compensation for any loss suffered as a consequence of the absence of registration. For more details, see Practice Notes: Planning obligations—key points and Planning local authority searches. Enforcement of planning obligations Section 106(4) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 ( TCPA 1990) states that a section 106 agreement may stipulate that a person ceases to be...

This Q& A proceeded on the basis that the life tenant neither arranged for an independent person to read the document to him nor obtained separate legal advice about it......

Apart from minors and those lacking mental capacity, a testator is, in principle, generally free to choose any executor. That said, a court is unlikely to grant representation to a bankrupt or insolvent individual, save where the testator was aware of the bankruptcy when naming that executor in the Will. At present, there is no bar on appointing a personal representative who has been discharged from bankruptcy or insolvency, this extends to someone released from an individual voluntary arrangement. Refer to Practice Note: Definition of a personal representative, particularly the section ‘ Bankruptcy and PRs’ for further guidance and detailed discussion on this......

The following assumptions can be taken from this question: first, that the person in question has been duly named to act as executor under a valid Will; and secondly, that they have handled all of the estate's assets before any formal grant has been obtained......