Two elderly sisters who lost their battle to avoid paying inheritance tax on the property they share when the first of them dies are to hear a new judgment from the Grand Chamber of European Court of the Human Rights next week.

The Grand Chamber of the ECHR will deliver its judgment at a public hearing on Tuesday 29 April

Joyce and Sybil Burden appealed against a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights last year that they should be liable for IHT when one dies before the other.

They hope to win the same IHT concession available to spouses. Having spent their lives together, they fear losing their house for tax reasons when one of them dies.