| Welcome to the Spring 2011 edition of the Child & Child newsletter.
The firm has seen a busy start to the year following a number of important changes across different fields of law.
In this edition Head of Private Client Tim Wallis discusses potential changes in inheritance tax and estate planning rules – and how some readers may need to take action before this month’s budget. January’s increase in the rate of VAT is also covered by Shinead Wilson.
Daniel Hobbs, employment barrister at 169 Temple Chambers outlines the implications of the government’s abolition of the default retirement age.
The firm congratulates Duncan McNair, who was named the Times’ Lawyer of the Week following his involvement in the landmark case of A, B and C v Ireland, heard before the European Court of Human Rights. Duncan’s interview is reproduced here.
In the field of property law, senior partner Andrew Smith and partner Claire Allan cover rights of light and leasehold enfranchisement respectively.
Marcus Lazarides of Counsel (Queen Elizabeth Building) sums up a recent family law case involving a dispute over a spouse’s business.
Private client solicitor Allen Chubb discusses the benefits of powers of attorney and dispute resolution solicitor Dipesh Dosani – a new face at the firm – examines how far a company can limit or exclude its liability under a contract. He also deals with the separate issue of debt recovery.  On the fundraising side, Allen Chubb and Francis Hill (Family Department) recently took part in a week-long voyage with the Jubilee Sailing Trust, a charity whose mission is to provide opportunities for the less-abled to sail. Follow the link to the left for highlights of the trip.
Lubna Islam and Aftab Mughal were also involved in the London annual ‘Legal Walk’ for the benefit of London’s legal advice charities. The walk, 40 miles long, took place over two days and, with Lubna’s and Aftab’s help, raised a total of £65,000. Finally we would like to take the opportunity to wish everyone a very happy Easter holiday. | 
The Government announced last year an Office of Tax Simplification, which is charged as the name suggests with making the tax system easier to understand. A worthy cause in principle, as tax legislation proliferated under the last government to the point where it is both complicated and burdensome. Somewhat surprisingly, the approach that has been adopted is to simplify the legislation by removing various tax reliefs. There are over one thousand of them! Abolition of some might slim down the legislation a little, but the net result will surely be an increase in tax revenues, as the underlying taxes behind the reliefs will remain unaltered.
It used to be the case that once an employee reached the age of 65 he lost his right to claim unfair dismissal, his right to a redundancy payment and his right to statutory sick pay. Those restrictions were all swept away by the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006. Now the government is abolishing the Default Retirement Age. On 13th January 2011 the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills confirmed that the Default Retirement Age (DRA) will be phased out from 6th April 2011 with complete abolition on 1st October 2011.
Duncan McNair, a partner at Child & Child, acted for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, which successfully intervened in the case of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service against the Secretary of State for Health. The High Court ruled that women who want an abortion in the early weeks of pregnancy must continue to take the pills at a clinic, unless the Health Secretary stipulates otherwise.
There is a common misconception that the grant of planning permission will give a developer the right to proceed with its development even where this would interfere with a neighbour’s rights of light. This misunderstanding no doubt arises because the planning authority is obliged to consider questions of daylight and sunlight when assessing a planning application. If a neighbour has acquired an easement of light, however, the grant of planning permission cannot override that right and the neighbour would be entitled to object to the development proceeding if the development would reduce the light to the neighbour’s building below acceptable levels.
The Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 (as amended) gives the right to a group of tenants of flats under long leases to acquire the freehold and any intermediary leasehold interests of their building at a price and on the terms in accordance with the 1993 Act, upon meeting certain qualifying criteria. Amending legislation has simplified the qualification process so that any new leaseholder may join in and enfranchise (i.e. buy their freehold) with their neighbours.
In the recent judgment in Jones v Jones, the Court of Appeal has given some useful guidance on how to approach the issue of a business which is set up before marriage by one of the parties to a divorce and what credit should be given to such an asset acquired before the commencement of the marriage. The first step for the court is to establish, before determining the division of the assets on divorce, the value of the “matrimonial” and the “non-matrimonial” assets. The existence of non-matrimonial assets will frequently be a reason to depart from an equal division. In this case the non-matrimonial assets included the business which the husband had established some years before the marriage.
It is an increasingly frustrating problem for creditors who provide goods and services only to find that their customers subsequently do not pay them. The question most creditors ask themselves is “how do I get paid”? There are a number of options available for a creditor which we can advise on regardless of whether the debtor is an individual, partnership, company or other corporation.
Powers of Attorney are not just for the elderly and are almost as important as wills. Sudden mental incapacity could strike anyone, for example as a result of a severe stroke. If it happens, the onset of mental incapacity is not necessarily gradual. An ordinary general power of attorney is a very short, simple document in which typically X appoints Y to manage all X’s assets and affairs. This works unless and until X becomes mentally incapable, when it can no longer be used. It is then necessary for Y or someone else to apply to the Court of Protection for their appointment as a Deputy (formerly known as a Receiver)
4 January 2011 saw the implementation of the VAT increase from 17.5% to 20%. Announced by George Osborne in the June 2010 budget, the Chancellor has calculated that the increase should raise an additional £13 billion in revenue a year for the Treasury to tackle the deficit. The rise has been criticised for potentially hampering the recovery of the property market. Although it is too early to assess whether or not this is the case, the increase has various implications for property transactions.
