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Those dissatisfied with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) decisions must exercise any right of appeal within tight legal time limits and should consult a solicitor as a matter of urgency. The point was powerfully made by the case of a businessman who failed to act promptly and was left nursing a six-figure bill. Following an investigation, HMRC issued a seven-figure demand against a company in respect of alleged errors in its VAT returns. An inaccuracy penalty was also raised, and the company subsequently entered liquidation. The businessman was issued with...

It is quite common for divorcees to claim that they have been placed under undue pressure to strike an unfavourable financial deal. In a big money case, however, a judge ruled that a wife was no lamb to the slaughter but voluntarily signed up to a compromise with her ex-husband which was toasted with champagne. The German couple, aged in their 70s, enjoyed an immensely high standard of living during their marriage of over 30 years. Following their divorce in Germany, there was a meeting at a hotel during which...

There can be few things more wounding or worrying than to be on the receiving end of a poison-pen letter campaign. However, as a High Court ruling showed, the law provides an effective means by which victims of such behaviour can achieve both public vindication and appropriate compensation. In the background to the case was a history of friction and grievance between a rural landowner and a couple who were his longstanding tenant farmers. He held the tenants responsible for originating and circulating some anonymous poison-pen letters which surfaced over...

Those who delay making a will until they are at death's door create a very real risk of conflict amongst their loved ones after they are gone. That was sadly so in the case of an elderly man who was in hospital, suffering from advanced bladder cancer, when he finally got round to instructing a solicitor. By his will, which he signed less than two weeks before he died, the man left all that he owned to his wife. The document's validity was challenged in court by his eldest son,...