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When a personal guarantee has to be given in order to give a lender the security it needs, the guarantor hopes that the guarantee will never be called in. However, when it is, the loss suffered by the guarantor will normally qualify as a loss for Capital Gains Tax (CGT) purposes to be set against gains chargeable to CGT. A recent case dealt with the question of when a loss under a guarantee arises for the purposes of obtaining relief against CGT. Is it when the guarantee becomes payable or...

The principle of open courts is highly valued in the UK legal system. However, it is often a worry to people engaged in legal proceedings concerning family or marital issues that by going to court their family's private affairs will become public knowledge. In practice, with the assistance of expert legal guidance, many disputes can be efficiently negotiated without the need for a court battle. However, when the outcome of the dispute is court proceedings, the result may not be as bad as you expect. Firstly, where children are involved, the...

A recent case should serve as a reminder that rules are rules and 'close enough' often isn't! The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 states that 'the enlargement, improvement or other alteration of a dwelling house' is a 'permitted development' (under class A), which subject to certain restrictions does not require planning permission. So, when a garden room was built on a residential property, that should have been that. However, a visit by the building inspector uncovered a fatal flaw…the garden room was not physically connected to...

Mistakes do happen, and in some circumstances they can be rectified by the courts. In a recent case, the wife of a man who died in 2015 went to court after a mistake in dealing with a trust created under his will left a substantial potential Inheritance Tax (IHT) bill to pay. The man's estate had been passed into the trust and his wife was to receive the income from the trust for life. The trustees had the discretionary power to create trusts for the benefit of other beneficiaries and the...