12092019

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Newbury Business Today

Legal Question Time

Simultaneous deaths – unintended consequences

Caitlin Leatham

Caitlin opens vintage shop A STUDENT from Compton has tapped into the growing demand for retro and secondhand clothing with the opening of a vintage clothes store in Swansea. The Retro and Vintage Store – known as RAVS – has opened in Picton Arcade in the city centre and sells clothing in store, as well as many items through an online Depop shop. RAVS was the brainchild of students Caitlin Leatham, 21, and Sion Williams, 20, who both study business manage- ment at Swansea University. After the pair both secured start-up funding through GoCompare as part of their entrepreneurship module, they took out a lease on the shop and refurbished the store before launching. Miss Leatham, a former pupil at The Downs School, said: “Vintage fashion is continuing to increase in popularity, espe- cially among fashion- and envi- ronmentally-conscious students. “The store has a strong customer base and I cannot wait to watch the brand grow.”

It may be worth getting advice on making wills together so the circumstances can be considered as a whole, and make the wills mirror each other. You may provide that in the first instance everything goes to the surviving spouse, and then on the death of the second spouse everything gets divided between all the children and stepchildren. That way, both families benefit regardless of who goes first. If you don’t trust your spouse not to alter their will after you’ve died and cut out your children, then consider leaving your assets in trust for your spouse for life (they can live in any property or use the income from assets) but provide that on their death it has to go to your children. In any case, think through the possible scenarios. Author’s details: Lucy Savage Senior Associate – Inheritance Protection Team T: l.savage@gardner- leader.co.uk E: (01635) 508118

THERE is nothing like a good old bit of Latin to get the lawyers excited. Commorientes, or “simultaneous deaths”. The rule was set out back in 1925 in the Law of Property Act, section 184. This provided that where it is impossible to know which of two people died first, the younger one is deemed to have survived the elder. Commorientes has been highlighted recently in an interesting but quite sad case. Mr and Mrs Scarle were married and jointly owned their home. They also had some money in a joint bank account. The total value of all the jointly-owned property has been reported to be just under £300,000. They had no children together, but both had daughters from previous relationships. Mr and Mrs Scarle both died of hyperthermia around the same time in their home and their bodies were not discovered for some days.

parent and disagreed as to which one was likely to have died first. The stepsisters asked the court to make a decision. The judge concluded that it was not possible to know with any degree of certainty which parent had died first. This is where Commorientes comes in. That is what the judge followed in this case. Mr Scarle, who was 10 years older than his wife, was deemed to have died first, so the estate passed initially to his wife and then on to her children. The moral of the story? It may seem natural to make a will providing that your assets go to your children on death and make no mention of your stepchildren, since your spouse is providing for them. However, as we see above, there can be unintended consequences of not thinking things through particularly where there are jointly-owned assets and where we do not know who is going to die first.

On death, assets that are owned jointly as ‘joint tenants’, as was the case with the house and bank account, pass automatically to the surviving co-owner by survivorship. On the death of the surviving co-owner their assets are inherited in accordance with the will or intestacy of the surviving co-owner. In this case, Mr Scarle’s daughter would benefit under his intestacy from his assets and Mrs Scarle’s daughters would benefit by her will, from hers. It was therefore of utmost importance to the family to know which of the parents died first. Whoever died second inherited the assets briefly and then passed them on to their beneficiaries. So the children of the one who lived longer would inherit the jointly-owned assets. Which of them had died first? It was difficult to tell. The pathologists could not give a date of death for either

Lucy Savage

The issue here was whether it was Mr or Mrs Scarle that died first – and it really did matter.

Apprenticeship News with

Employer Enhancements continue for apprentices

At the heart of the Berkshire community for over 120 years.

EMPLOYER Enhancements are ‘rewards’ to employers who engage apprentices aged 16 to 18 or disadvantaged adults. The enhancements have run since May 2017 and have proven a popular incentive for those employers with younger apprentices. What is an Employer Enhancement? All employers, regardless of size, will be entitled to an enhancement whenever they engage a 16- to 18-year-old apprentice or a disadvantaged young adult. Engaged means enrol that person on an apprenticeship and it includes an employee progressing from one apprenticeship to another. Age means the apprentice’s age when they start their formal learning on the apprenticeship. A disadvantaged adult is defined as aged 19 to 24 and: 1. Was formerly in local authority care 2. Or has an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) How much is the Employer Enhancement?

Qualifying periods It’s vital to point out that the payments are made for time on an apprenticeship and not time employed. For example, if an employer recruits an apprentice on September 1, but the apprenticeship doesn’t commence until October 1, then the enhancement qualification period starts from October 1 and not the earlier date. Why is the Government employers because taking on younger apprentices requires more work. Younger employees are often less experienced, less knowledgeable and can require logical to support employers through these enhancements so that they do not become biased to older apprentice recruits. giving money away? This is a sweetener for more care and support. Therefore it does appear

Corporate/Commercial

Family

Commercial Property

Inheritance Protection i

West Berkshire Training Consortium –update by MATT GARVEY

Dispute Resolution

Residential Property

For each apprentice the enhancement is £1,000 paid in two instalments at month three and 12 of the apprenticeship. It is paid by the Government via the employer’s training provider. Employers of all sizes are entitled to enhancements and there is no current cap on the number that will be paid. Therefore an employer engaging 10 apprentices aged 16 to 18 could receive £10,000 in enhancements.

Managing Risk and Reputation

Employment

It’s a good time to be an employer engaged with apprentices.

White Hart House, Market Place, Newbury RG14 5BA 01635 508080 gardner-leader.co.uk

If you would like further advice and guidance then contact me Matt@wbtc-uk.com