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There can be a world of difference between a moral obligation and a legal one. The High Court made that point in rejecting a daughter's claim that part of her deceased mother's stake in a residential property was held on trust for her. By the unequivocal terms of her will, the mother bequeathed her 71 per cent share of the property to her sister. She expressed a wish that the family matriarch should be permitted to live in the property for life and that, if she needed to go into...

Before deciding where a child's best interests lie, family judges often have to conduct detailed inquiries into the character and conduct of their parents. In a unique case on point, a judge ruled that a father was probably responsible for the fatal poisoning of his child's maternal grandfather. The father and the child's mother were visiting her parents at their overseas home when the incident occurred. After enjoying a morning cup of coffee on the veranda, the mother and grandparents were taken gravely ill. There was no dispute that they...

If a neighbour has been granted planning permission for a development to which you object, you would be forgiven for thinking that there is nothing more you can do about it. As one case showed, however, with the benefit of expert legal advice that is by no means always so. The case concerned a residential close, built in the 1980s, consisting of four homes. They were positioned closely together with a green space between them and an access road. A couple who owned one of the homes obtained planning permission...

Where a company becomes involved in the fraudulent evasion of tax, the corporate veil will rarely protect its directors from personal liability. An elderly businessman found that out to his cost when he received a seven-figure bill that was likely to plunge him into bankruptcy. The businessman was the sole shareholder and active director of a limited company that entered into transactions connected to a missing trader intra-community fraud. Following an investigation, HM Revenue and Customs assessed the company for £4,890,631 in VAT. A personal liability notice (PLN) was raised...