Sisters take inheritance tax fight to Europe

Two elderly sisters who have lived together all their lives are challenging UK inheritance laws which deny them the same rights as married or same-sex couples.

Joyce and Sybil Burden, aged 88 and 80, fear that when one of them dies, the other will have to sell their home to pay the inheritance tax.

The 2004 Civil Partnership Act extended to gays and lesbians the same exemption from inheritance tax already enjoyed by married couples - but it does not cover family members living together like the Burdens.

Their jointly-owned property in Marlborough, Wiltshire, currently valued at £875,000, was inherited from their parents. Each sister has made a will leaving all her property to the other.

Now they are seeking a European Court ruling that their exposure to inheritance tax breaches their human rights.

Today, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg will hold a hearing to decide on the "merits and admissibility" of their legal action.

Lawyers for the women will set out current inheritance tax laws which apply 40% tax on inherited property, triggered at a property value threshold of £285,000, but rising to £300,000 for the 2007-08 tax year and to £310,000 by 2010.

Only property passing from the deceased to his or her spouse or "civil partner" is exempt.

Lawyers will contend that unmarried sisters living together for as long as the Burdens - since birth - warrant the same treatment for inheritance tax purposes as either category.

If the case gets the go-ahead, they will seek a ruling that the current arrangements are a breach of European Human Rights Convention provisions which prohibit discrimination and guarantee "protection of property".

But any Human Rights hearing could take years to reach a verdict.