Burden v United Kingdom
10th July 2007
(2006) 21 BHRC 640, [2007] STC 252, 9 ITLR 535, [2007] WTLR 607; European Court of Human Rights
In this case, two unmarried sisters, the youngest of which was 81 years old on the date of judgment, lived together all their lives. They owned their home jointly and had done so for 30 years, inheriting it from their parents. Each of them also owned other assets and the value of the estate of each of them was over £500,000. This meant that, when one of them died, there would be inheritance tax to pay and the survivor might have to sell the home to pay it. They complained that, if they had been married or civil partners, there would be a full exemption from any inheritance tax but, as they were sisters, they could not register as civil partners. They claimed that this was a violation of their right to peaceful enjoyment of their possessions, under Art 14 of the EHCR, taken in conjunction with Art 1 of Protocol No 1. It was held that there had been no violation.
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