Mills & Reeve is facing a professional negligence claim after the advice it gave to a company chief executive allegedly resulted in the businessman’s daughters paying a £1.3m inheritance tax bill.
It is alleged that the firm advised Christopher Swain on a management buyout of telecoms company Swains International when he was having surgery in Thailand.
Swain died while in hospital. His four daughters allege he believed that if he died his shareholding would transfer to them tax-free if the deal went through. They claim that the firm did not advise them that this was not the case.
The claimants say that, because Mills & Reeve did not advise Swain to wait until after surgery before going ahead with the deal, they were forced to pay an inheritance tax bill of £1.3m.
The four women have instructed King’s Lynn-based Berry & Walton to pursue the claim.