The Gazette 1974

CORRESPONDENCE

C O N F E R E N C E—C OM P U T E RS AND T H E LAW

De ar Mr. Gavan -Du f f y,

T h e Society for Computers and Law Limited is to

hold a conference on Computers and Law in Ox f o rd over

the weekend 27 to 29 September 1974. T h e conference

will be open to all people both in the United Kingdom

and abroad who are interested in computers and law,

and in particular we hope to have a large number of

British lawyers present. T h e conference does not pre-

suppose any prior knowledge of the topic, though we

hope there will be plenty of information that will be of

interest to both the ordinary practising lawyers and the

computer experts. T h e emphasis will be on working,

practical systems, and the speakers will deal with infor-

mation retrieval, legislative and government systems,

and other subsidiary applications for lawyers.

I should be grateful if you could find some room to

give some publicity to this conference, and in any case

if you are interested, make a note of the date. As soon

as the speakers list is complete and other details avail-

able I shall be informing you.

Richard Morgan.

Publicity Officer

Depa r tment of Social Welfare,

Dublin 1.

30th May 1974

De ar Mr. Ivers,

With further reference to your recent letter regarding

the general question of assignments of land as raised by

you, I wish to let you know that legal transfers which

have been executed and stamped are being accepted in

the assessment of means for old age pension purposes.

Brendan Corish.

Minister for Social Welfare

T H E DUBL IN S O L I C I T ORS BAR AS SOC I AT I ON

Following a recent informal discussion between repre-

sentatives of the Council of the Dublin Solicitors Bar

Association, the Law Agent, Dublin Corporation, and

the County Solicitor, Dublin County Council, it is pro-

posed to prepare a memo r a n d um for submission to the

legal departments of both authorities setting out the

main sources of difficulty encountered by practitioners

and if possible, suggesting means whereby the work of

the offices of the two authorities and of practitioners

generally can be co-ordinated to eliminate or at least

minimise such difficulties which frequently cause delay

injurious to the interests of clients

T h e Council requests solicitors to furnish d a ta and

recommendations to assist in the preparation of the

proposed memo r a n d um to the undersigned as soon as

conveniently possible.

Andrew F. Smyth

Hon. Secretary, Dublin Solicitors Bar Association,

1 Up p er Ely Place, Dublin 2.

Estate Duty Office Require Solicitors'

-operation

The Estate Duty Office informed the Society that %

provisional pre-grant system of assessing Estate Duties |

progressing relatively smoothly, but that co-operation

required from the profession in order to see that busin

eSS

can be conducted without the re-occurance of delay

The following two points were stressed:

(1) Solicitors are requested to send

Schedules

ets by post or to leave them with the officials in

Estate Duty Office and not to insist upon their beinj?

immediately assessed. Most cases are nowadays dealt w

,tfl

within two days and posted back to the solicitors c°

cerned. However, officials say that personal callers ten"

to reduce the amount of work done by staff.

(2) If solicitors completed the Schedule of Assets a®<j

accompanying forms correctly it would reduce the wor*

load of the Estate Duty Office by one-third. In t®

ing with each blank form of Schedule of Assets

following notice

Estate Du ty Branch

Revenue Commissioners

Dublin Castle

22 May 1974

Inland Revenue Affidavit—Provisional

Assessments

Your co-operation is requested in ensuring the ma®

tenance of the system whereby Inland Revenue Aft"

davits (Form A) are provisionally assessed immediately

on delivery. T h e system depends largely on the prop

completion of the affidavit before delivery. If it is no*

completed properly it must be queried. T h e danger t°

the system lies in the additional work created W

querying. (As an illustration of how querying clogs the

system : 10,000 cases each queried once means the u®*

necessary and avoidable creation of a further 10,006

making 20,000 in all and requiring twice as ma ny exai®'

iners to deal with them—or more likely causing lo®£

delays in assessment.)

In practice one out of every three cases has to be

queried for one or other of the following omissions:

Page 2—failure to complete paragraph 3.

Page 3—failure to reply in detail to the question

0,1

joint property at paragraph 4.

Page 4—Abatements (paragraph 11 A) :

i—omission of date of birth of widow;

ii—omission of copy will;

iii—failure to indicate whether the widow opts for

her legal right or for her benefits under the Wi"-

Certain Irish Securities (paragraph 1 IB) :

omission of Schedule 13.

Page 10—failure to indicate that payment by instal-

ments is intended, and

failure to enclose the copy affidavit with the origin

warrant when paying the duty.

Careful attention to these points will help to keep the

system working smoothly. Your full co-operation wi"

be greatly appreciated.

169