Was this negligent advice? A marital assets case dissected

MARITAL ASSETS

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Catherine Hallam, head of family law at Burges Salmon, explains the perils of unwittingly converting clients' money from non-marital assets to marital assets.

Your client Piers has had a successful career in industry. Now in his early 50s, you have advised him about pensions and investments for some years. He has built up a decent amount of assets, partly from earnings, partly from inheritance. He expects to be a high earner for some years to come. Piers married for the second time five years ago. His wife Katrina had not worked for some time and she had limited resources of her own. Back in 2009, you suggested it would make sense from a tax perspective if he put some of the investments in Katrina’s name. Most were assets he had built up befor...

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