LATEST NEWS

Even if you do not hold legal title to a plot of land, you may well be entitled to have it transferred into your name if you have been in adverse possession of it for over 10 years and you have reasonably believed throughout that it belongs to you. That is precisely what happened in a guideline Upper Tribunal (UT) case. The case concerned substantial parts of a couple's garden that they had treated as their own since they purchased their home in 1996. The relevant land fell within the...

Some people who trade online do so in the fond hope that the income they generate will fall beneath the tax authorities' radar. A tax tribunal ruling that left one such trader on the verge of bankruptcy showed how very wrong they are. On his relevant tax returns, the man declared his modest income as a security guard but made no mention of his profits from online trading. That prompted HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to conduct an in-depth inquiry into his financial dealings. He was issued with back tax...

Couples who enter into pre- or post-marital agreements with their eyes open and with the benefit of legal advice can expect to be bound by them. The High Court made that point in a so-called 'big money' divorce case in which an extremely wealthy woman's assets dwarfed those of her ex-husband. Before their relatively brief marriage, the wife's net assets were already valued at about £50 million. The husband's net assets were worth about £225,000, plus a small pension and modest employment income. The wife's wealth, which was entirely derived...

Making a valid will requires an exercise of independent decision-making, free from the undue influence of others. The High Court powerfully made that point in finding that a daughter coerced her ailing mother into bequeathing everything to her. The mother was aged 82 when she made her one and only will, leaving her home and everything else she owned to one of her four daughters. She had by then been diagnosed with dementia and had suffered a suspected stroke. She died three months after signing the document. A legal challenge...