The family of an asbestosis victim are currently embroiled in a battle with the Ministry of Defence to prove that inheritance tax should not be payable on their late father’s estate.  Mr Vick was exposed to asbestos as a result of his conscription into the Royal Navy in 1942.  Despite being called up he was required to work in the Naval Base in Portsmouth, where he was already serving an electrical apprenticeship.  As part of his duties he was involved in the clean up operation after the dockyard was bombed.  This caused severe structural damage and exposed Mr Vick to deadly asbestos dust.  He sadly went on to die of asbestosis in 2009.

 

There is a little known and rarely used exemption from Inheritance Tax which means that when a member or former member of the Armed Forces dies, as a result of injuries or a disease sustained whilst on active service, their whole estate is exempt from Inheritance Tax which would normally be levied at a rate of 40%.  This rule, found in Section 154 of the Inheritance Tax Act, applies even when the disease develops or the death occurs many decades after the military service.  There is normally a long latency period between exposure to asbestos and the development of an asbestos related condition, such as asbestosis or mesothelioma. However, provided that it can be established that the asbestos disease had a bearing on the individual’s death, whether the cause of death or a hastening factor, then the exemption applies.

 

In Mr Vick’s case the Ministry of Defence accept that he died of asbestosis and that this condition was caused by his exposure to asbestos dust.  The disagreement over whether inheritance tax is payable or not has arisen as they do not accept that Mr Vick was conscripted when working in Portsmouth Dockyard but think that he was a member of the Home Guard.  To qualify for the inheritance tax exemption it is necessary to show that Home Guard members were doing more than their normal civilian business, for example, that they were exercising or training, on duty or called up for an emergency.  The Ministry of Defence are arguing that it is unlikely Mr Vick would have been able to join the Home Guard if serving concurrently as a member of the Royal Navy.

 

Mr Vick’s family are relying on a statement made in the House of Commons in 1953 saying that ‘active service for estate purposes, during and for a time after the Second World War, was regarded as being under a course of Naval, Military or Air Force discipline, it being immaterial whether, when the cause of death arose, the deceased was on duty, off duty or absent on leave.’   

 

If the deceased was exposed to asbestos as part of their service in the Armed Forces then it is important that medical and documentary evidence is retained.  Mr Vick’s family requested that the Coroner noted that it was his exposure to asbestos in the Second World War that led to his development of asbestosis.

 

The significance of this inheritance tax exemption should not be under estimated.  As our Armed Forces are currently engaged in action around the world it could potentially apply to an increasing number of estates in the future.  However, independent experts say many professional advisers to bereaved families of servicemen and women are unaware of the exemption as they come across it so infrequently.  This has led to accountants and politicians to call on HM Revenue & Customs to publicise exemptions from inheritance tax more widely.

 

A further benefit of the exemption is the knock on effect it has on the later death of a spouse of a serviceman.  As the personal nil rate band of a spouse can be carried forward, to add to the spouse’s nil rate band on the second death, then on the current Inheritance Tax thresholds £650,000 could pass under the serviceman’s spouse’s estate before inheritance tax would be payable.

 

Our armed forces do not enjoy the same income tax exemptions that their American colleagues benefit from so it is important that their families benefit from this valuable inheritance tax exemption when they are entitled to it.  It is also essential that everyone appointed to act as an executor for the estate of a deceased member of the Armed Forces is aware of this rule.

 

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About John Pickering and Partners LLP

John Pickering and Partners LLP- Specialist mesothelioma compensation solicitors

 

We are a dedicated personal injury law firm who do not do other types of work.  We specialise in claiming damages for asbestos sufferers. We have been handling compensation claims for industrial disease for over 30 years. Most of our work involves acting for asbestos disease victims who suffer from mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis and pleural thickening. We only act for the sufferers of asbestos diseases and never act for the organisations that caused the asbestos exposure or their insurers. We have an ethical approach and donate 10% of our net profits every year to good causes that help asbestos sufferers.  We have set up a charitable trust to help to fund medical research into mesothelioma and various organisations that help and support asbestos sufferers and their families.

 

Find out more about our donations to good causes. We have also been involved in most of the landmark judgments that shape this area of law. Find out more about us or  our reported cases. We are on the panels of several asbestos support groups and are ranked highly by legal guides.  Find out more about what others have said about us.

 

John Pickering and Partners LLP is a niche legal practice that has represented Claimants in the leading asbestos "test cases" in the last ten years. The firm represented Sylvia Barker in Barker v Corus (UK) Plc, a case that highlighted the legal tactics of employers and insurers trying to cut back their compensation liabilities to mesothelioma sufferers, and which prompted the amendment of the Compensation Act 2006 to ensure full compensation for mesothelioma claims. The firm represented two of the three Claimants in the landmark Fairchild appeal, in which the insurance industry tried unsuccessfully to block compensation altogether for mesothelioma sufferers unable to identify which of two or more sources of asbestos exposure had caused their illness.

 

The firm represented Alice Jefferson, a mesothelioma sufferer, whose illness and compensation claim against Cape Asbestos were featured in the important documentary "Alice: A Fight For Life." Shown by Yorkshire Television in July 1982, the programme was an important catalyst for legal change and public awareness of the plight of mesothelioma and other asbestos disease sufferers and a prompt for important legal reform.

 

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that affects the lining of certain bodily organs. It most commonly affects the lining of the lungs (the pleura) but it can affect other areas including organs in the abdominal cavity (the peritoneum).

 

More than 2,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma every year in the UK and there is one mesothelioma death every five hours. The number of deaths from mesothelioma increased from 153 in 1968 to 1,969 in 2004 and is expected to peak at 2,450 between 2011 and 2015. 

 

The first Action Mesothelioma Day was launched on 27th February 2006.  Its objectives were to raise awareness about mesothelioma, to improve the treatment and care of mesothelioma patients, and to lobby for better funding for research into mesothelioma and for the protection and education of people who may be exposed to asbestos.

If you need advice about an asbestos related illness, contact us now for information about making a claim for compensation.

 

Contact us to find out more about your entitlement to claim compensation if you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer or pleural thickening.

 

For more information about asbestos diseases-

www.johnpickering.co.uk

 

For practical information and support concerning mesothelioma-

www.mesothelioma-advice.co.uk

 

For more information about claiming for different types of asbestos disease-

Mesothelioma compensation claims

Lung cancer compensation claims

Asbestosis compensation claims

Pleural thickening compensation claims

 

 

For more an explanation about different types of asbestos conditions-

Different asbestos conditions

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