87 / 328
(6) Regular consideration of any necessary action
on
(i) Any bills outstanding six months
(ii) Any bills £50 or more outstanding over three
months
(iii) Any client's debit balance in excess of
£10
(uncos ted)
(iv) Total owed by clients on bills rendered and
also for disbursements unrendered.
(v) The overall financial position by monthly
profit and loss account and balance sheet tied
in with the revenue expense budget.
(vi) Graphical recording of trend and progress of
costs and disbursements.
Counsel's fees may present a problem.
If you
follow the disbursements in advance system the
problem disappears but if not there may be a
dilemma. Some practitioners pay counsel immedi
ately and obtain reimbursements from the client
later on. This is creditable but may be bad business.
On the other hand delay in payment is not good for
solicitor/counsel relations. The solution appears to
be to debit the client's account immediately upon
receipt of counsel's docket and send an interim
disbursement bill requesting early payment so that
counsel's fees may be discharged without delay.
(Law Institute Journal,
Australia.)
ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ESTATE DUTY
OF
A
PURCHASER
FROM
THE
PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF REAL
ESTATE
INCLUDING
FREEHOLD
REGISTERED LAND
A member wrote to the Society with reference to
the refusal by solicitors for a vendor to furnish a
certificate of discharge from death duties in the case
of a sale by a
legal personal representative of
freehold registered land compulsorily acquired under
the Land Acts. Although the question is one of
strict law the Society has been in correspondence
with the Revenue Commissioners and has obtained
the opinion of the Commissioners on the question
of whether such a purchaser may be liable for estate
duty on the property after the sale has been com
pleted if no certificate has been obtained.
The
opinion of the Commissioners is that no protection
is afforded to the purchaser either by section 19 (i)
of the Administration of Estates Act, 1959 or section
8 (18) of the Finance Act, 1894. The liability for
estate duty does not, it seems, follow the purchase
money into the hands of the legal personal represen
tative but continues to attach to the property itself.
The practical effect of all this is that a purchaser
from a personal representative of real property must
make sure to obtain a certificate of discharge from
death duties in order to protect himself. This applies
to freehold registered land as well. Furthermore,
where there is a death on the title within twelve years
a certificate should be asked for and should be given.
It appears that the only case where the certificate of
discharge from death duties is not, strictly speaking,
necessary is in a sale of a leasehold or tenancy interest
by
an
executor
or
administrator
as
such
interests are personal property and the executor or
personal representative alone is accountable for the
estate duty thereon. If the Revenue Commissioners'
view of the law on this question is correct, and it
must be taken for practical purposes to be correct,
then it follows as a matter of conveyancing practice
that a purchaser is entitled to requisition a certificate
of discharge from death duties where he is buying
freehold lands including freehold registered lands
from the legal personal representative (or where there
is a death on the title within twelve years) and the
vendor is not entitled to refuse it.
The foregoing is not meant to be an authoritative
statement of law but is published merely for the
information and guidance of members.
PROCEEDINGS AGAINST SOLICITORS
By order of the President of the High Court,
dated nth September, 1961, on a petition of the
Society grounded on a report of the Disciplinary
Committee, it was directed that the name of George
M. Hegarty who formerly practised at Castletown-
berehaven, Co. Cork, be struck off the Roll of
Solicitors.
By order of the President of the High Court,
dated zoth September, 1961, on a petition of the
Society grounded upon a report of the Disciplinary
Committee, it was directed that the name of Leonard
E. M. Downes who formerly practised at 9 Mary
Street, Dublin, be struck off the Roll of Solicitors.
By order of the President of the High Court, dated
i yth November, 1961, on a petition of the Society
grounded upon a report of the Disciplinary Com
mittee, it was directed that Patrick Cunningham,
solicitor, of 18 Palmerston Gardens, Rathmines,
Dublin, be suspended from practice for the then
current practice year 1961/62.
MEETINGS OF THE COUNCIL
FEBRUARY IST :
The President in the Chair. Also
present, Messrs. Brendan T. Walsh, John Carrigan,
John R. Halpin, N. S. Gaffney, John J. Nash,
Francis J. Lanigan, Thomas A. O'Reilly, Peter D. M.
Prentice, R. A. French, John Kelly, James R. C.
79