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When a person's affairs are being managed by someone else under a lasting power of attorney (LPA), there are strict rules about what the attorney can and cannot do with the assets placed under their control. The attorney is expected to safeguard the assets of the person who gave them the LPA and their own withdrawals should only be for what is reasonable and necessary. However, that does not mean they are completely restricted as to what they can do. If they can show that the person they are acting...

Care orders for children that result in them being taken away from their parents are not made lightly. When a 14-year-old girl was assessed as having 'a range of complex therapeutic needs' that made constant supervision and care essential, the decision was made that she should live in care, which her court-appointed guardian claimed effectively amounted to a deprivation of her liberty. Analysing the regime she was under, the court found that it was essentially no different from that of a girl of the same age living at home and...

Those who make a profit on the sale of their principal private residence do not have to pay Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on it. However, as a test case concerning a couple who built their own home showed, that apparently simple statement disguises a hinterland of complexity and that is why professional tax advice is a 'must have'. It took just over three years for the couple to complete their grand design. They then lived in the house as their principal private residence for about three years before selling it...

Those who doubt the legal advantages of getting married should take note of a case in which an elderly man was left facing homelessness after his partner's unexpected death and had to go to court to seek reasonable provision from her estate. The unmarried couple were of similar age and the man expected that, in the natural course of things, he would probably die first. They lived in a house that was in her sole name and, after she died suddenly, her son – to whom she had left almost...