Nic Pestell

A dispute over a pub that was the main asset of a family trust has been settled in the High Court. The trust had been set up a by a woman who named all her children as equal beneficiaries. One of her sons ran the pub as his main business; his siblings had no involvement.

The late Duke of Westminster saved his family billions of pounds by using a trust that allows wealth to pass through the generations without attracting a large inheritance tax liability. The Duke died in August leaving an estate valued at £9bn. It’s thought nearly all of that wealth will pass to his son Hugh without

The discovery that a grandmother had set up a trust relating to a house has saved a woman more than £1.4m. The court heard that the house had been bought by the grandmother in 1986 as a home for her son, his wife and their three children. The son and wife separated later that year

The High Court has set aside a trust settlement that was drawn up in error and would have resulted in a woman having to pay a large, unexpected tax bill. The case involved a woman who made a settlement on the advice of her father to protect her assets from her former boyfriend. Most of

Two sisters who detest each other and no longer speak have lost the right to look after their elderly mother’s finances. Their 97-year-old mother drew up a lasting power of attorney (LPA) eight years ago appointing them as her deputies so they could make decisions on her behalf if she became unable to manage her

A married couple have been allowed to remove a clause from a trust document that could have cost their family £650,000 in tax liability. The issue arose after the husband set up a trust for which both he and his wife were among the trustees. When drawing up the trust, he decided to appoint certain