The Supreme Court of England and Wales in its recent decision in Ivey v Genting Casinos [2017] UKSC 67 (“Ivey“) took the opportunity to reassess the approach in criminal cases to determining whether a defendant has acted dishonestly. The Supreme Court held that the “Ghosh test”, which excused a defendant who did not know that … Read more

Citywealth has just announced its finalists for its Magic Circle Awards 2018.  We are thrilled to have been shortlisted twice. Herbert Smith Freehills has been shortlisted in International Law Firm of the Year – non UK and Richard Norridge has been shortlisted for Lawyer of the Year. There are many other trustees, advisers and firms … Read more

The Queensland Supreme Court has held that an unsent text message written on a man’s mobile phone shortly before he died adequately captured his testamentary intention.  In doing so, the Court dispensed with the normal execution requirements of a will, and allowed the text message to be admitted to probate: Re Nichol; Nichol v Nichol [2017] … Read more

In the recent case of Vucicevic v Aleksic [2017] EWHC 2335 the High Court (Bristol District Registry) considered the rules relating to gifts in the context of homemade wills. The court concluded that instead of being an absolute gift, the homemade handwritten (or holographic) will of the testator gifting his properties to the Serbian Orthodox … Read more

In the latest decision in the long running Pugachev dispute, the High Court considered the effect of five trusts set up by Mr Pugachev, and whether the trusts were shams. Birss J held that he would have been prepared to declare the five trusts shams, but on the true interpretation of the trust documents and … Read more

The Guernsey Royal Court recently ordered, under s. 69(1)(a)(iv) of the Trusts (Guernsey) Law 2007 (the “Act“), that a transfer of shares into Guernsey trusts be set aside on grounds of mistake. This was despite the fact that the transfer had been made for the sole reason of reducing tax liability. We consider the case, … Read more

The ATO in Australia continues to target privately owned and wealthy groups, with specific focus on groups with risky trust structures that exhibit characteristics of tax avoidance or evasion. Read more

On 4 September 2017, seven major regulators governing the finance and technology sectors in China (collectively, the Chinese Regulators), jointly published an announcement prohibiting initial coin offerings (ICOs) in China. The following day, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) also made a statement on existing regulations which could be applicable to ICOs and … Read more