The Gazette 1973

indicates that the certificate is required "to close a sale

next week". This is particularly the case in connection

with sales to the Land Commission. One of the first

Requisitions of the Land Commissioner Examiner is for

a letter from this Office that there are no outstanding

charges for Death Duties affecting the lands being sold.

In a surprisingly large number of cases, this letter is

applied for with the statement that the case is before

the Examiner for final allocation "next week". In all

these cases it is clear that a certificate i,s required from

the start but the application for the certificate is not

made in sufficient time to have the matter properly

investigated. We do our best to meet the deadline in

these cases but consider it unfair, in our present circum-

stances, that other applications must be left unanswered

in order to facilitate the applicants who do not apply

in good time. I would be grateful if you could give

some publicity in your Gazette, or otherwise, to this

problem, to ensure that, in those cases in which the

Solicitor having carriage must be aware that a certi-

ficate will be required before closing a sale or before

Final Allocation, the application for the certificate will

not be postponed until the eleventh hour.

Yours sincerely,

M. K. O'Connor

(

Assistant Secretary)

M. K. O'Connor, Esq.,

Assistant Secretary,

Estate Duty Branch,

7th November 1972

Dear Mr. O'Connor,

Thank you for your letter of November 30th. Reduced

to its essentials it now appears from your letter that

every case in which leasehold property is sold by a

personal representative in the course of administration

of an estate the purchaser must obtain before closing

a certificate of discharge from death duties on the pro-

perty purchased. This imposes a very serious burden on

the solicitors' profession and I fear that these certifi-

cates will not become readily available from the

Estate Duty Office during the month or six weeks which

elapse between the date of contract and completion of

a sale. The change effected by Section 32 of the Finance

Act 1971 will necessitate a very considerable alteration

in conveyancing practice and I fear will be the cause

of considerable delay. Solicitors will be called upon to

give undertakings to obtain certificates of discharge of

death duties which they are naturally reluctant to do

as these undertakings add to the administrative bur-

den in solicitors' offices.

The Council would again press the Revenue Com-

missioners to restore the law to its condition previous

to the enactment of the Finance Act 1971 even if they

are not prepared to go the whole length of making

estate duty a charge on all purchase monies both of

real and personal property in exoneration of a pur-

chaser for value.

In considering changes of the Revenue Law the

Council submit that account should be taken not alone

of the interest to fhe Revenue but its effect upon the

commercial community and purchasers and sales of

property. The inconvenience and expense occasioned by

change intended to protect the Revenue may be out-

weighed by other factors of the kind mentioned above.

The Council regret the enactment of Section 32 of the

Finance Act 1971 and hope that the Commissioners

will give this matter their further favourable considera-

tion. After all legislation is intended to be in the

interests of the general public and statutory enactments

which complicate the law and place obstacles in the

way of speedy completion of commercial transactions

cannot achieve this purpose.

The Council would appreciate the information as to

the number of applications received for certificates of

discharge from death duties during an average month

and the time which will be taken to deal with such

applications. We are aware that there is considerable

delay in the Estate Duty Office at the present time due

to shortage of staff and we are not optimistic that the

change recently made and which has now been brought

to the attention of the profession will not cause further

delay.

Yours sincerely,

Eric A. Plunkett

Shilling Will is a forgery

Miss Penny Brahms, the model, heard an Old Bailey

jury rule yesterday that a will leaving her a shilling

and four photographs of herself was a forgery. She was

in court when the jury brought in verdicts of guilty on

all the charges brought against Shelagh Macintosh

(22) a teacher, and Eric Alba-Teran (51) an invest-

ment banker.

Both were found to have forged the will of Miss

Brahms's former husband, Mr. Clive Raphael, with

intent to defraud Mr. Raphael, aged 31, who died in

an air crash in France last year.

Both were also found to have conspired together—

and with a barrister, Mr Ronald Shulman—to pervert

the course of justice by seeking through false affidavits

in the High Court to prove Mr. Rapheal had made a

will.

Mr. Shulman, formerly of Westminster, was said

during the trial to have fled to South America.

Mr. Alba-Teran on his own was convicted of obtain-

ing Mr. Raphael's Rolls-Royce by means of a forged

letter of authority, knowing it to be forged.

The Common Serjeant, Judge Mervyn Griffith-Jones,

said he would pass sentence today.

The jury returned after 4 hours to announce that

it had found Mr. Alba-Teran guilty of the charge

which he faced alone, but had failed to agree on the

other two counts.

The Judge then gave directions as to majority ver-

dicts, and the jury retired again. It returned just over

an hour later to give its decision.

Miss Macintosh of Walton-on-Thames, and Mr.

Alba-Teran, of Chelsea, both pleaded not guilty to all

charges wheh the trial began on October 23rd.

Mr. John Buzzard, prosecuting, said during the trial

it seemed clear Mr. Raphael had made no will and

that his estate—valued in court at £500,000—would

go to his young widow, Penny Brahms.

—Guardian,

15th November 1972