1. BUDGET 2017

Budget 2017 was announced on 11 October 2016 and the implementing Finance Bill was published on 18 October 2016. Together, they contained two pensions-related initiatives.

Benefits for Pensioners Increase

There will be a 5 per week increase in the State pension with effect from 1 March 2017. The timing of the increase will mean that schemes which operate State pension offsets based on the State pension amount in January of a given year will not see a change to the deduction until January 2018.

1. POLICY UPDATE

1.1 Access to ARF option for holders of Buy-Out Bonds originating in DB Schemes

A change to the Revenue Commissioner's administrative procedures, effective from 22 June 2016, means that former defined benefit scheme members whose benefits were transferred to a buy-out bond may now access an Approved Retirement Fund ("ARF") rather than being restricted to the purchase of an annuity.

Editor’s Note: While we at The Bankruptcy Cave always enjoy writing about new cases or legal developments, we really love using our posts as an opportunity to pass along tips, easily forgotten rules, and things that make the client think you are a rock star (and avoid a client’s distrust in your ability to captain the Chapter 11 ship).

In some good news for commercial vendors, the Supreme Court of Texas recently ruled that payments for ordinary services provided to an insolvent customer are not recoverable as fraudulent transfers, even if the customer turns out to be a “Ponzi scheme” instead of a legitimate business.

Introduction

In the recent High Court decision in Bilta (UK) Ltd (In liquidation) and others v Nazir and others [2012] EWHC (Ch), the court considered the application of the legal doctrine of ‘ex turpi causa non oritur actio’ in the context of fraud.