Long-running Staveley court case clarifies rules on pension transfers in ill-health

The Staveley case was first heard in 2014 and is based on whether inheritance tax (IHT) should be applied to a pension transfer carried out in terminal ill-health. After a difficult divorce Ms Staveley transferred part of a pension she had set up with her husband into a new pot and bequeathed it to her children. She died just weeks later. Because she was terminally ill, HMRC treated the transfer as a "transfer of value" followed by an "omission to act" as she did not draw any benefits, and applied IHT. It argued the two actions were linked and designed to reduce the value of her estat...