Government says no to EC ‘clawback’ regulation
The UK government has announced that it has decided to initially opt out of the EC's proposed regulation and wills
If the UK had decided to opt into the regulation as currently drafted without excluding the UK and Ireland, it would become possible for all donations made during as many as the last 30 years of an individual’s lifetime to be clawed back into their estate under the rules of 'forced heirship'. These can be claimed in other member states by certain family members if the donor had taken up 'habitual residence' in another member state and died there without having specified the law of their own nationality as the applicable law of choice for their estate administration. This would have left a UK donee - charities especially - with serious doubts about the irrevocable nature of a donor's lifetime gift, with a perhaps unquantifiable risk of ultimate liability to surrender part of it to the donor's estate.
Author: Clarissa Dann
Clarissa Dann was the editor of Caritas as well as an HR and management online service,he People Bulletin until July 2011.
She is now the editor of the specialist trade finance magazine, Trade and Forfaiting Review which can be viewed at www.tfreview.com but does write on charity finance and investment from time to time.
Clarissa has a background in legal and professional publishing, as well as business journalism and holds an MBA from
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