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received royal assent this year. This change
means that those who die domiciled in England
from Spring 2020 will be deemed to be organ
donors unless they have opted out in lifetime.
This is a reversal of our current opt-in system.
When discussing funeral and organ donation
wishes when taking instructions this is something
new you will need to raise as many people may
not be aware of the change and wish to clearly
opt out.
A collection of interesting probate and
undue influence cases made headlines
It has been a very interesting year for contentious
probate. This year we’ve seen everything from
forfeiture to proprietary estoppel, and one very
interesting undue influence case that included a
vary rare challenge on the grounds of fraudulent
calumny. See our write ups here, here and here.
The second half of the Office of Tax
Simplification’s report was released
The Office of Tax Simplification finally released
their second report this summer. This report made
plenty of recommendations on ways of simplifying
IHT rules on lifetime gifts, interactions with CGT,
and businesses and farms. Recommendations
centered around rolling the many lifetime gift
allowances into one larger relief to help the
general publics understanding of IHT.
Unfortunately, no recommendations were made
on the RNRB and downsizing provisions despite
their admission that it is a complex area that is
poorly understood. Shockingly the report even
found that some solicitors opt not to advise on the
RNRB because it is too complicated! Hopefully
this is an area that the OTS will look at again in
future.
the society of will writers
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