LATEST NEWS

The Government has acknowledged that the upcoming general election makes it unlikely that probate fees will increase significantly in May as planned, as there will not be time for Parliament to pass the legislation. The planned changes to the fees payable would have benefited smaller estates, with the amount below which estates are exempt from fees rising from £5,000 to £50,000. However, the move has been criticised as a 'stealth tax' on larger estates. It is not yet clear whether the Conservatives will press ahead with the proposal if they win...

The need for charities to exercise strict controls over the disbursement of significant sums was made clear in a recent report by the Charity Commissioners into a small charity. The charity, which operated to promote active sports among the disabled, suffered a theft by a trustee who had subsequently died. More than £10,000 was recovered and the Charity Commission informed. The Commission's investigation revealed that the charity's annual returns and accounts had been filed late and that the details of the trustees as returned were out of date. However, the chief...

Boundary disputes are commonplace and, unless skilfully mediated, can often spiral out of control, ending up in legal action the cost of which far exceeds the value of the land under dispute. One of the more important principles in such disputes is often a difficult one for the property owners to take on board, and that is that the subjective beliefs of the owners as to where the boundary lies is evidence which is not normally admissible, although their ongoing behaviour as regards its location can be in point. It...

With HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) pressing ahead with plans to make 'customers' deal with them only digitally, it is good to see that when a system issue with the EE network meant that some of the company's customers were unable to access the HMRC website on 31 January (the last day on which a tax return may be filed without incurring a penalty), they have agreed to allow those affected to file an extension. The glitch meant that a confirmatory text message, needed to log in, was not received...