The courts are often called upon to sanction treatment for patients whose ability to make...
Since 2007 the Tories have been promising a £1million nil rate band. Now that they are in power without the restraint of a coalition, one would have expected that this was high on their list of priorities.
So has the new residential nil rate band given us this much promised allowance?
I am afraid that there is no simple answer to this question. George Osborne could have so easily just increased the nil rate band to £500,000. With a married couple having the advantage of a doubled up allowance that would have given them the £1million nil rate band promised. But he didn’t do that!
Instead he has created a complicated system that gives the impression of generosity and enables some headline grabbing news but at the same time ensuring that there are restrictions and traps for the unwary, resulting in large numbers of people missing out on the new allowance.
In essence, from April 2017 there is an additional nil rate band starting at £100,000 and increasing to £175,000 by 2020. If you add the £175,000 to the £325,000 this makes £500,000. Double this up for a married couple and you get the magic £1million.
To receive this allowance you have to be leaving a residence. There are strict rules when it comes to downsizing. You must also leave your estate to close lineal descendants, in other words children or grandchildren. This means that single people with no children will not benefit from the additional allowance.
One of the traps for the unwary is that grandchildren must take at no age greater than eighteen. A gift to grandchildren at the age of twenty one will not work for the purposes of the new allowance.