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ARTICLE · 05 OCTOBER 2023

Disclaimers: Recent Case Law Issues

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The law is not so absurd as to force a man to take an estate against his will (Townson v Tickell [1819] 3 B. & Ald. 31) is a well-known judicial pronouncement from the 19th century.

IrelandTax
Eoin Tobin
Eoin Tobin
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Introduction

The law is not so absurd as to force a man to take an estate against his will (Townson v Tickell [1819] 3 B. & Ald. 31) is a well-known judicial pronouncement from the 19th century. This principle underpins the legal operation of disclaimers, which, along with deeds of family arrangements, are regularly encountered by advisers dealing with testate and intestate estates and their beneficiaries.

Although the taxation consequences of disclaimers have a statutory footing, the legal consequences are largely rooted in historical English case law and academic commentary. The recent decision of Twomey J in Kieran Egan and Michael Egan Junior v Helen Egan and Alan Egan [2023] IEHC 259 is therefore to be welcomed in that, for the first time in this jurisdiction, the High Court has considered the legal effect of a disclaimer in favour of a third party.1

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