CG37740 | Absolute entitlement: special cases: infancy

TCGA92/S60 (1) & TCGA92/S71 (3)

In general a person who is an infant, under 18 in English and Northern Irish law, cannot require trustees to hand over property to which he or she would otherwise be entitled. In the case of land an infant cannot be the legal owner. In other cases the infant cannot give the trustee a receipt. Therefore the trustee must hold onto the asset. However if infancy is the only thing that prevents the property from being handed over, the infant is treated for Capital Gains Tax purposes as absolutely entitled to it. Similar treatment applies to other persons who are under a legal disability, for example, enemy aliens or those mentally disabled.