British lawyers must report tax evasion

www.washingtontimes.com 9th Oct 2003

LONDON, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- A British ruling that divorce lawyers must report attempts at tax evasion by couples has the legal system in an uproar, the Times of London said Thursday.

In a ruling that strikes at the lawyer-client relationship, Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, the most senior family judge, confirmed lawyers must report their clients for any suspected tax irregularities, however minor.

Failure to do so could make the lawyer liable to prosecution under new legislation and carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in jail.

The ruling came from a case where the wife's lawyers suspected the $31 million matrimonial assets included proceeds of crime.

Alarmed divorce attorneys say complying would be a "nightmare" and could frighten off divorcing couples from using them at all.

Divorce lawyers say the new legislation is so widely worded it now applies to any potential tax evasion, however small.