The Gazette 1961 - 64

(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