News - tax cases

Sisterly home

Two elderly unmarried sisters had lived together all their lives and for the last 30 years in a house inherited from their parents. The house was owned in their joint names and was worth £875 000. They each had other assets of some £150 000. Given the value of the house on the death of one sister the other would be subject to inheritance tax and in order to pay this they said it would be necessary to sell the house. They complained to the European Court of Human Rights under article 1 of the First Protocol in conjunction with article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights claiming that they were in the same position as a married couple or same sex Civil Partnership Act couple who would be able to claim exemption. The UK Government argued that...