S144 IHTA - meaning of "settled by his will"

S144 (2) IHTA applies where property comprised in a person’s estate immediately before his death is settled by his will and, within a period of two years after his death…there occurs an event on which tax would be chargeable…

Would S144 (2) apply where the testator’s Will gave a legacy to an existing discretionary settlement which was wound up within 2 years (but after 3 months) by appointing everything to the surviving spouse?

Would the answer be any different for a legacy to an existing interest in possession settlement?

I guess I’m asking whether the definition of “settled by his will” could be extended to cover these scenarios.

Death occurred after 22 March 2006.

Karen Shakespeare

s.144 IHTA 1984 will apply to a gift to an existing discretionary trust, but cannot apply to a gift to an interest in possession trust, whether created under the will, an instrument of variation or which already exists - s.144(1) specifies that “Subsection (2) below applies where property comprised in a person’s estate immediately before his death is settled by his will and, within the period of two years after his death and before any interest in possession has subsisted in the property”.

Paul Saunders

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