September 1st, 2010
Whether your children are young or old it is important that you make provisions for your children in the best possible way. Tax planning is a big part of making a Will but not everything has to be passed after you die – in fact it is often far more efficient (and cheaper) to sign over some of your assets during your lifetime.
It is important to consider Estate and Inheritance planning now as there were hints from Minister Lenihan last year that the generous CAT and CGT relief’s available to children and relatives may be reduced or written out of the law. The Budget in December 2009 certainly saw them reduced slightly.
If you have adult children and you intend to leave them any property there is no time like the present to transfer property. Any transfer of property during your lifetime will be subject to Stamp Duty and Capital Gains Tax (if it is not your family home). It will also attract gift tax or Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT). However the benefit of transferring it in today’s market is that the stamp duty and other taxes will be assessed on the market value of the property – which is likely to be significantly lower than it was a few years ago. You can protect your own future by retaining a life interest in the property but transferring the ownership to your children or relatives. This means you will have somewhere to live for the rest of your life but you will have got some benefit out of this recession by transferring the property at its lowest valuation.
If you have young children then making provision for their care and financial security is even more important. You need to appoint a guardian in your Will to look after the day to day care of your children. You also need to make provision for them financially. The most efficient way is normally through a discretionary trust – where you appoint a trusted friend or relative to look after their inheritance until they are mature enough to deal with it themselves. Revenue assesses discretionary trust tax once the youngest child reaches the age of twenty one. The person you appoint as a Trustee does not necessarily need to be the Guardian of the children although they certainly need to be able to work with them to ensure that there is no conflict over providing for the children in the best possible way.
Careful estate planning with your Solicitor and your Accountant is very important. You can provide for the worst in the best possible way, reducing the costs and the stress of dealing with your assets after you are gone.
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August 31st, 2010
The recently passed Land Law and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009 ends the practice of upwards only rent review clauses in all commercial leases. The Act came into force in December 2009. The change will not apply to existing commercial leases but will help for new tenants in tough economic times.
There are a lot of businesses who started up in the last five years struggling due to the high rents they pay for their premises. Commercial reality has already forced a number of landlords to accept lower the rents in difficult commercial times rather than risk loosing a tenant or having to pursue a tenant through the Courts in order to pay the rent or vacate the premises. The relief for new tenants will be that should the economic situation get worse the rent review could actually lead to a reduction in the rent. The change in the law does restrict the Landlords freedom of contract but on the other hand it just reflects the commercial reality in the market place.
Even before the Land Law and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009 came into force new leases could be negotiated removing the “upwards only” rent review clauses. I recently negotiated a lease for a client where the five yearly rent review clause will be based on the market rent, whether it is an increase or decrease on the current rent. The landlord conceded this amendment rather than have an empty premises, and my clients will have the comfort of knowing that should the economy suffer further his next rent review could come as a surprising relief.
Some critics have argued that even existing leases should be subject to a suspension of the upwards only rent review clauses. This could be difficult to implement as it would be impossible to predict how long such a suspension should apply or even what indicators should be used to confirm that the economy has recovered. Commercial reality seems to be forcing the hand of landlords and I don’t think there would be any further advantage to having government prescribe any changes to existing leases.
Tags: Commercial Leases
Posted in Legal News | 7 Comments »
June 10th, 2010
Kilkenny enjoyed yet another successful June Bank Holiday weekend when it hosted the hugely successful Carlsberg Kilkenny Cat’s Laugh Festival. Unfortunately not all of the revellers go home still laughing – some of them will be back in the District Court in Kilkenny in a few weeks time.
As the Kilkenny People reported… “Gardai in the city reported a busy weekend with almost 50 arrests for public order incidents. Over the bank holiday weekend an estimated 25,000 festival-goers descended on the Marble City and there was a visible Garda presence throughout the weekend, which is one of the busiest of the year. There were 20 prisoners held in the Garda barracks on Sunday night, 17 on the Saturday night and six on Friday.”
Tags: District Court
Posted in Legal News | 3 Comments »
May 26th, 2010
Did you know that you can claim interest on overdue payments from customers? Even if there is no mention of penalty interest in your invoice or terms and conditions? Under the European Communities (Late Payment and Commercial Transactions) Regulations 2002 (SI388 of 2002) if a payment is not made for a commercial transaction within 30 days then interest can be charged for the late payment.
This little known Regulation can be a useful tool when seeking to recover money owed by your customers. It can be used both as a carrot and a stick to encourage your customers to pay on time. If you are in the practice of sending reminders to customers then a paragraph in relation to this regulation should be included. It might be useful to offer to reduce or waive the interest if payment is received within a short period of time (say 14 days) as an encouragement for your customer to pay its account.
The Regulation applies to any transaction after 7 August 2002 – the date the Regulation came into effect – whether it is with another business or an individual. If you have a specific clause in your terms and conditions in relation to the charge of interest then that specified amount applies, but if there is no provision for claiming interest you can rely on the Regulation to recover over and above what is owed to you.
The interest rate is set at 7 percentage points above the current ECB which currently means the late payment interest rate is 8% per annum. This equals a daily rate of .022% – which can be significant on larger amounts owed. You can also claim an additional fixed amount for compensation for the recovery costs of the debt at a flat rate between €40-€100. Only one interest rate applies to the whole payment (even if the rate changes with the ECB) and that is the rate in force on the due date of the payment.
Interest on this regulation can be claimed in Court if you decide to recover the outstanding amounts by the issue of a Civil Summons, Civil Bill or Plenary Summons. This can be an added bonus for your business if you recover an additional amount on top of standard Court costs. It can go some way to compensating for any extra costs and the delay of having to issue legal proceedings.
Tags: Debt Collection
Posted in Legal News | 6 Comments »
February 16th, 2010
At Bass Solicitors we’re always looking to keep you informed and up to date with the latest developments that impact on you. For that reason we’ve setup a new section to our site for News and Information.
If you would like us to focus on any particular subject – please post your comment here and we’ll gladly help where we can.
Tags: Welcome to our news section
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