Tax planning
Case Study 1
Lawyers devised and drafted a complex trust for our client to avoid Inheritance Tax. Instead of creating a single trust which would exceed the IHT nil rate band, our client created 3 trusts during his lifetime where the trusts each benefitted from a full IHT nil rate band and were not subject to any exit charges.
Rules of Intestacy
Case Study 2
Our private client team worked closely along side our litigation team were instructed by a Widow challenging a suspicious Will allegedly left by her late husband. Our lawyers successfully settled this matter out of court and the estate was administered in accordance with the Rules of Intestacy.
Inheritance Dispute
Case Study 3
Recovery from UK accountants of substantial damages for a claim for breach of contract and professional negligence in the Chancery Division of the High Court in London on behalf of a corporate client whose businesses were put into serious financial difficulties as a consequence of shortcomings in due diligence – failure to correctly forecast the future prospects of the business being acquired – carried out on an acquisition.
Professional Negligence
Case Study 4
Successfully acting for the principal beneficiary under a discretionary offshore trust in a claim for breach of contract/professional negligence against solicitors and counsel for failure to advise on the impact on the trust of the ten yearly charge for Inheritance Tax purposes.
Gaming
Case Study 5
The client (a casino) had transferred to it £1.5 million by third party companies on behalf of a fourth party. The funds had been paid by our client to the fourth party who had gamed with the funds at the client’s premises. The third party companies had been put into administration and, pursuant to a court order made under the administration, client had released documents to the administrator. A bank, relying upon information in the documents given to the administrator, demanded information from the client to enable it to trace the £1.5 million and reclaim the money from the client. Legal proceedings were commenced out of the Manchester District Registry by a Part 8 Claim but never developed. We thoroughly investigated the matter, established client’s strengths and weaknesses and in particular where the dangers lay in the tracing process. The bank’s solicitors entered into sporadic protracted correspondence with us, eventually leading to an application, made by the bank, to the court for extensive disclosure. Negotiations with the bank culminated in an agreement, confirmed in a court order, to release the client’s bank statements relating to the payments from the accounts of the third party companies, all other requests for disclosure being withdrawn.
