If you’ve lived in the UK for a short while, you’ll have almost certainly heard about Gretna. It’s a small town (really just a village) just inside the Scottish border, over the road from England.
History tells us that it used to be the first town English couples went to, to get married at aged 16, […]
Posted on March 31st, 2008 by Stephen
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The amount before which a person pay’s inheritance tax (IHT) on their estate goes up from the current £300,000 to a new figure of £312,000 from the new tax year, early April 2008 and is valid until the tax year ending in 2009.
This is an increase of 4% over the current nil tax band. […]
Posted on March 26th, 2008 by Stephen
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The following statement will be discussed with all client(s) making a Deed of Gift. This generally means when one partner is giving half the property to the other so they become joint owners. They need to prove their solvent position at the time of making the gift of part or all of their property.
STATEMENT ON […]
Posted on March 20th, 2008 by Stephen
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Mr and Mrs Williams were both aged 55. They had a son aged 23 and a married daughter of 27. Mr Williams had recently inherited a house from his mother and had sold this for £80.000; he had invested half this money in shares and the other half was on deposit in the Building Society.
Mr […]
Posted on March 17th, 2008 by Stephen
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If you die without making a Will, the State makes one for you. At present in England and Wales, your estate is distributed as follows:
1. With no children, parents, brothers, sisters, nephews or nieces - the spouse inherits everything.
2. If there are children, the spouse takes the personal chattels (car, furniture, clothing etc.) and £125,000 […]
Posted on March 13th, 2008 by Stephen
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Children’s Commissioner – Part 1
Sections 1-9 provide for the establishment of a new Children’s Commissioner for England, who will also have a role across the UK for reporting on non-devolved matters, working closely with counterparts in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Commissioner’s job will be to raise awareness of the best
interests of children and […]
Posted on March 10th, 2008 by Stephen
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The appointment of guardians and the rights they have are governed by the Children Act 2004. A guardian can only be appointed in accordance with that act, A parent with parental responsibility may appoint a guardian by Will or by a document which he dates and signs and which provides that the appointment only takes […]
Posted on March 6th, 2008 by Stephen
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Without prompting, clients rarely contemplate the appointment of testamentary guardians but invariably accept that such an appointment is highly desirable if both are to die while they have a child under eighteen. The Children Act 2004 provides that where a child’s mother and father were married to each other at the time of the child’s […]
Posted on March 3rd, 2008 by Stephen
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