Sisters to pay inheritance tax
14 Dec 06
Lifelong house-sharers lose challenge against 40% charge
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that two sisters who have lived together all of their lives will still need to pay UK inheritance tax if one of them dies.
Joyce and Sybil Burden are in their 80s and took the challenge to the European Court because they were worried their home in Marlborough, Wiltshire, currently valued at £875,000, would need to be sold off to pay the tax chargeable when the first one dies.
The sisters have each made a will leaving their share in the property to the other. Their lawyers argued that they should enjoy the same rights as same-sex couples, who gained the same rights as married couples through the 2004 Civil Partnership Act.
However, the human rights judges ruled that change does not cover family members living together, just as the UK Government had argued that sisters were not in a similar situation as gay and lesbian couples, as they were connected by birth rather than a legally recognised formal relationship.