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When making a will, it is vital to remember your obligations to family members and others who depend upon you financially. As a High Court ruling showed, however, your duty is to make reasonable provision for them – no more. The case concerned a matriarch who died just short of her 100th birthday. By her will, she directed the sale of her home, which was worth about £875,000. She instructed that the proceeds of sale should be split into six equal parts before being divided, in various proportions, between her...

When spouses each make valuable contributions to a long marriage, the general rule is that marital assets should be divided equally in the event of divorce. As an unusual High Court ruling concerning the validity of a French marriage contract showed, however, the sharing principle can be displaced by agreement. The case concerned a couple who married in France when they were just starting out on their highly successful business careers. Their marriage lasted for over 25 years, yielding three children. Before they tied the knot, however, they signed a...

Shareholders are obviously liable to pay Income Tax on their dividends, but what if a declared dividend is not – and, in reality, never will be – paid? A tax tribunal pondered that issue in a case concerning an otherwise successful property management company that was saddled with crushing debt servicing costs. The company was trading well and making good operating profits. Its interest costs in respect of bank loans were, however, so debilitating as to place its business at risk. It was anxious to attract new external equity investors...

In a head-turning decision, the High Court has acknowledged that increased rainfall arising from environmental changes was one cause of excess seepage of water from a landowner's field into a neighbouring domestic garden. The garden owner sought an injunction and damages against the landowner, alleging that the increased seepage arose from the landowner's negligence and amounted to a nuisance. He contended that his garden had, as a result, been transformed into an unkempt carpet of moss and that a number of his trees had died. Ruling on the matter, the Court...