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Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is a complex tax, but the guiding principle is straightforward. It taxes gains on the disposal of non-trading assets. For a person, profits on trading transactions are taxed to Income Tax. Losses on non-trading disposals can be set against capital gains made in the same tax year or carried forward to be set against gains in future years…but not, it seems, all losses. A recent case dealt with the situation in which a man paid a deposit of £72,000 for a property, but was subsequently unable...

Elderly people are often vulnerable to fraudsters and that is why it is essential to ensure that they have access to proper legal advice. In one case that proves the point, a widow in her 80s was persuaded by a charming conman to transfer her £500,000 home into his name. The fraudster posed as a financial adviser and convinced the widow, who is blind, that her property was being placed in a trust with a view to saving Inheritance Tax. In fact, it was conveyed into his sole name and...

A ground-breaking Supreme Court decision has for the first time opened the way for compensation claims by those who are subjected to groundless civil proceedings which have been brought maliciously without reasonable or probable cause. The case concerned a businessman who was sued by a leisure company for alleged breach of fiduciary and contractual duties following his dismissal as a director. The claim was later withdrawn and the businessman contended that the proceedings had been part of a campaign by a former colleague to do him harm. He launched a...

Obedience to court orders is not voluntary and judges possess a battery of powers to enforce compliance. In one case, a divorcee who barricaded himself into his former matrimonial home in order to prevent its enforced sale was given ten days to move out – or go to prison. The sale of the £500,000 farmhouse had been ordered so that the proceeds could be divided between husband and wife as part of their £6 million divorce. However, over a prolonged period, the husband had refused to leave. He was said...