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Bankruptcy gives debtors the chance to wipe the slate clean and make a fresh start – but such opportunities are only open to those who cooperate with creditors: the law is tireless in its pursuit of those who do not. That point was made by one High Court case involving a debtor who was threatened with imprisonment for repeatedly failing to disclose details of his finances. Sixteen years after he had been made bankrupt, the man remained undischarged due to his failure to give appropriate assistance to his trustee in...

Disobeying court orders is ultimately punishable by imprisonment – but only as a last resort. In the context of a family case, the Court of Appeal has ruled that a woman in her 70s, who honestly believed that she was doing her best for a vulnerable man with dementia, should not have spent seven weeks behind bars. The woman held a power of attorney in respect of the man, who was in his 80s and lacked capacity to make decisions for himself. She had moved him away from Devon, where...

Promises of generous returns on backing novel products can be awfully tempting for investors, but such investments should only be undertaken with the benefit of professional advice. In one case that underlined the point, the creator of a weight-loss drink defrauded investors and friends out of £580,000 in a futile attempt to keep his business afloat. The man had held a series of high-level management roles in the past and gave all the appearance of honesty. He had himself invested heavily in his drinks business but resorted to deceit when...

Trusts are relatively common and the death of a trustee is by no means rare. A trust deed normally contains a clause stipulating how new trustees are to be appointed in the event of the death, incapacity or inability to serve of a trustee, and normally it is the settlor of the trust who retains the power to appoint trustees. The Trustee Act 1925 (Section 36) provides that the right to appoint new trustees will rest with the persons 'nominated for the purposes of appointing new trustees' in the trust...