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Yearly Archives: 2018
English High Court refuses to block enforcement of U.S. discovery order
In the recent decision of Dreymoor v Eurochem [2018] EWHC 2267, the English High Court refused to grant an injunction to restrain the enforcement of a U.S. discovery order under Section 1782 of the United States Code against a former …
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Can my half-sister challenge our father’s will?
Samara Dutton advices on when a will is challengable and what needs to be considered in accordance to the Inheritance Act 1975. Click here to read the article, first featured in Financial Times on 7 Nov 2018.
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40% of young adults cannot afford to buy homes, even with a 10% deposit
Research produced by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has shown that house prices in England have risen by over 173% in the last two decades. With that comes the frightening statistic that 40% of young adults (those aged between 25 – 34) cannot afford to buy the cheapest homes in their area.The research, cited in an article by the BBC, offers other worrying statistics – such as only 35% of 25-34 year olds own a house. This statistic is only made worse when you consider that this figure is down from 55% in 1998.These new statistics make it ever clearer that more needs to be done to make homes affordable for young people. The question is how do you do so? The research suggests that the key is for the government to increase the number of homes available for young people and to allow construction in green belt areas. I would suggest that these are steps in addressing an ever increasing issue but that more much more will need to be done to make the properties affordable for young people. Sadly this is something which is more easily said than done.
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Government to push ahead with 3,770% increase in probate fees for the wealthiest estates
Although the increase in probate fees to £6,000 for those estates worth more than £2,000,000 will understandably grab the headlines, the underlying policy contains more detail which should not be ignored.Firstly it is worth remembering that this highest band is a significant reduction on the £20,000 band proposed in 2017. Secondly the government has confirmed that the threshold under which no fees are paid at all is being raised from £5,000 to £50,000. Although the government projects that about 80% of applicants will pay £750 or less, this is still a significant increase on the previous fee of £215 (or £155 for those applying through a solicitor).However, many of the issues which were raised last year still remain. The greatest concern for a number of executors will be how to gain access to sufficient assets to pay the fee without a grant of probate. For those wealthy estates which pass entirely under the spouse exemption, liquidity has historically been less of an issue because no inheritance tax is due. Once the new rules are introduced however this will add an additional layer of complexity for executors to wrangle with.
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Who owns what if I buy a house with my friend?
Partner and Head of Construction Jonathan Pawlowski gives advice on when you can claim compensation for delayed building works and what you need to be aware of. Click here to read the article, first featured in Financial Times on 02 …
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Six ways to avoid legal danger in a start-up
Jeff Roberts, Partner and Head of Commercial Services, gives advice on what legal dangers you should consider when founding a start-up. Click here to read the article, first featured in Financial Times on 02 Nov 2018.
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The use of non-disclosure agreements in an employment context
Last week’s successful appeal in ABC & Others v Telegraph Media Group Limited sparked the latest conversation on the use of non-disclosure agreements (“NDAs”) in an employment context. The case saw the claimants challenge the Telegraph on its attempted publication …
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Leave your estate to loved ones rather than up to chance
A key point that the public should take away from the findings in the article at the bottom is that the hidden costs of dying intestate can often far exceed the cost of putting in place a simple Will. If intestate individuals do not have close family, they risk leaving their estate exposed to third party heir hunters and the commission which such companies may take before next-of-kin are informed.Those individuals should ask themselves whether they would prefer that their estates be left to friends or even charity instead, rather than a proportion evaporating in administration costs before their next-of-kin ever sees their inheritance. Even if an individual’s wishes are similar or identical to the intestacy rules, a Will allows a testator to tailor their wishes and to provide their executors with more flexible powers, rather than resorting to the rigid intestacy rules. A Will also allows testators to set out substitute wishes in the face of unforeseen changes in circumstances, for example the unexpected death of a loved one.A simple Will provides an individual with the peace of mind that their affairs will be properly administered after their death, and ensures that the intended recipients receive the appropriate amounts in a timely and efficient fashion, rather than waiting for the council’s administrative process to run its course. All of this is not to disregard the potential tax mitigation which can also be achieved from prudent and careful testamentary and lifetime estate planning.
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Why the IHT nil rate band may be scant comfort for homeowners in the South East
The inheritance tax nil rate band has been frozen at £325,000 since April 2009 and the Government appears to have no plans to increase this threshold in the near future. When the increase in house prices in London and the South East is compared over this time period it is small wonder that so many estates are now subject to inheritance tax.The Government did introduce the new residence nil rate band in April 2017, which provides parents with an additional slice of inheritance tax relief if they leave all or part of a residential property to their children or further descendants. This was designed so that parents could leave up to £1,000,000 between them to their children tax free.However, this additional slice begins to taper off once an individual’s net wealth exceeds £2,000,000, meaning that parents whose combined net worth exceeds £4,000,000 will lose the right to claim some or all of the relief. For many families in London and the South East the family home represents a significant proportion of this figure, which does not leave much room before the residence nil rate band is lost. The relief also only applies if assets are left directly on death, meaning that individuals with certain Wills (for example where assets are left on a discretionary trust and not appointed out within two years) will miss out on the residence nil rate band completely.It will be interesting to see how the figures for 2017/18 compare to the figures in this article in due course once the residence nil rate band is taken into account.
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It’s Blockchain your Honour
In September 2018, China’s Supreme Court ruled blockchain records as admissible legal evidence. The Internet Courts in China can now use blockchain records to settle internet-related legal disputes.If the relevant parties collect and store their data via blockchain, with digital signatures, reliable time stamps and hash value verification or via a digital deposition platform and can prove the authenticity of their technology, it will be recognised, the Supreme People’s Court statement said.This may not be a surprise to some, as four months ago, China’s first Internet court in Hangzhou, ruled that evidence which has been authenticated using blockchain technology is legally binding.(Block)Chain Reaction?The application and admissibility of blockchain in the Court room has yet to be widely seen.Though blockchain records have been declared admissible as evidence by the US state of Vermont, and China’s latest ruling shows an appetite for the Courts accepting the new technology.In Vermont, the state signed a bill into law which allowed a ‘digital record electronically registered in a blockchain’ to be ‘self-authenticating’ ‘if it is accompanied by a written declaration of a qualified person, made under oath’. The Court is still requiring human verification of the system, and does not yet irrefutably trust the technology, but it is certainly a step in the right direction. Quick off the starting BlockCourts will have to get familiar with blockchain following its rapid development and uptake. No doubt Smart Contracts will bring with them the same disputes as other contractual agreements, and when these come to fruition, new technology will be at the heart of any case.The adoption of blockchain based technology to store corporate records, such as stock ledgers, books of accounts and minutes (as has been done by Delaware’s General Corporate Law in the US) could lead to a wide variety of cases involving issues of business ownership and shareholder disputes requiring blockchain evidence to be admitted.In the UK, the Land Registry’s steps towards a register based on blockchain (most recently seen in their appointment of software company Methods in their project Digital Street) may reduce some disputes, as they progress towards complete and accurate records, but will also lead to cases where title records stored on a blockchain need to be admitted as evidence.The UK Government has also disclosed plans to conduct a pilot project for storing digital evidence on a blockchain, which was revealed in an announcement by Balaji Anbil, Head of Digital Architecture and Cyber Security at Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS). The system intends to create a digital evidence audit to preserve the digital chain and provide a “chronological record of system activities which capture how digital evidence has been created/accessed/modified by which entity, from what location, in such a way to enable the reconstruction and examination of the sequence of events, and actions leading to the current state of the digital evidence.”This move is encouraging in terms of the UK Court’s potential to accept blockchain evidence, which would be rendered necessary if such a system was adopted.Whilst the UK Court seems keen to embrace technology from an administrative point of view, it will be interesting to see how the Court reacts to the evidential questions the new technology will bring and the implications of architectural decisions in the technology, such as open or closed networks, access to keys and tokens.
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