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If you dispute a tax bill, you are entitled to a fair hearing of your appeal and specialist advice will ensure you get just that. In a case that demonstrates this point, a couple were relieved of a substantial Capital Gains Tax (CGT) demand after successfully arguing that they had not been treated even-handedly. The couple had sold a plot of land on which was a house they had built for themselves, and outbuildings including a large shed. Disposal of a taxpayer's principal private residence is exempt from CGT and,...

It is not widely known that the 'cap' on assets above which people in residential care must fund their own care is only £23,250 in England and Northern Ireland. It is even less well known that elsewhere in the UK the cap is set at different levels. In Scotland, full self-funding only starts when the assets of the person in care exceed £28,000. However, following a recent increase in the limit by £10,000 in Wales, a Welsh resident needing care will now have their funding fully met by the state...

If building works on your home go wrong, strong legal representation can ensure that you are properly compensated. In a recent case, a couple who paid over £400,000 for a state-of-the-art home cinema, but did not get the architectural jewel they had bargained for, succeeded in a professional negligence claim against the award-winning architect responsible for the debacle. The couple engaged the architect to design the cinema, which was to grace the pool room of their substantial home. They wanted a sleek modern design, but what they got was a...

The legal ownership of property is not always the same as the beneficial ownership and disputes can arise when no documentation is executed to show the two are different. Such was the case in a recent dispute which occurred after a couple who had two children but never married broke up. The male partner worked in the IT industry and earned the greater part of their income. The female partner was a midwife, who switched to part-time working then gave up work to look after their young children. The couple...