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The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has launched a consultation on the storage and retention of original will documents by HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS). The consultation is intended as a means to challenge the current system of will storage and look at ways of preserving original wills in a more economic and efficient manner, whilst still enabling the documents to be accessed and examined in the event of probate disputes. There is currently no limit to the length of time that courts can hold original, paper wills for. Many are...

The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary has announced the extension of a groundbreaking Family Court reporting pilot. The Transparency Implementation Group Reporting Pilot is being extended to 16 more courts across the country, after an initial run at the family courts in Leeds, Cardiff and Carlisle, which began in late January 2023. The pilot introduces 'a presumption that accredited media and legal bloggers may report on what they see and hear during family court cases, subject to strict rules of anonymity'. Judges in the pilot courts will make Transparency Orders, which will...

Even in long-term or married relationships, couples very often operate separate bank accounts and keep their personal finances private from one another. However, as a case concerning the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) showed, such confidentiality can occasionally have very unfortunate consequences. HICBC was introduced in 2013 and, in broad terms, renders those whose adjusted net income exceeds £50,000 a year liable to Income Tax on child benefit payments received by them – or, crucially, by their partners. The advent of the charge was the subject of a publicity...

Many grieving families have sadly been torn apart by a loved one's failure to make a professionally drafted will. Exactly that happened in a High Court case concerning two brothers who fell out bitterly over which of them should take charge of administering their deceased father's estate. The father, whose estate was worth about £500,000, died without making a will. One of his sons was granted letters of administration by which he was appointed as his father's personal representative. It thus became his responsibility to gather in and distribute the...