PP [2015] EWCOP 93

​​Application for an order under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 granting retrospective ratification of a gift of £324,000 from the Patient, being a potentially exempt transfer for the purposes of inheritance tax (IHT). The application was refused.

The Applicant, who was one of the Patient's attorneys for PA and HW, had used £324,000 of the Patient's money to purchase a property after receiving inheritance tax advice from an IFA. He applied for retrospective ratification of this gift from the court which was opposed by the OS. 

The court refused the application. The gift, which amounted to 24% of the Patient's estate, fell outside the ambit of the authority given to attorneys by section 12 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to make gifts out of the estate of a person who lacks capacity to do so.

Read the full text of the judgment on Bailii