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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...

When a person is appointed executor of an estate, they are given a reasonable period to progress the estate administration but cannot procrastinate without adverse consequences being likely. When a woman died intestate in 2012, she left behind a house and about £70,000 worth of other assets. Her estate stood to be distributed between her three children. She had made several wills, but none was valid. One of the children took on the job of administering the estate and appointed a probate company recommended by her bank to assist. Probate was...

The law requires that the driver of any vehicle has a valid insurance policy that covers injury or damage to third parties caused by or arising out of the use of the vehicle on a road or in a public place. The Supreme Court has given authoritative guidance on the meaning of that phrase in a case of crucial importance to vehicle owners and the insurance industry. The case concerned an employee of an engineering firm, the owners of which allowed him to use the premises to do work on...

A wealthy Omani man who failed to pay to his ex-wife the financial settlement ordered by the court, or to cooperate with disclosure orders, faces arrest if he attempts to return to the UK. When the couple's marriage broke up, they were divorced under Omani law. However, the wife, a resident of the UK, sought and obtained orders in the UK court for financial relief (under Part III of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984) for herself and their children, who live with her. The divorce took place in 2017...