A little knowledge is indeed a dangerous thing. Last week's column on UK death duties was a summary of everything I know on the subject. Some readers, who couldn't tell where they stood from what I wrote, e-mailed to ask for more information.

This is one of those cases where there are exactly as many rules as there are people. Some facts are common to all, however, so I'll run by those and then fail to answer the specific questions that were received.

This is a topic where professional advice is absolutely your best bet. Death duties are a specialist subject, the stakes enormous. If you are wealthy enough to worry about them, you are wealthy enough to contact a professional tax accountant or attorney on the subject. Useful stuff is to be found on this web page, from Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs, the UK tax authority: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cto/customerguide/page20.htm. As to how Bermuda death work, I don't know nuffin', as we say, including where to start. The Ministry of Finance?

I invite any professional who knows about estate tax for Bermuda residents who might be domiciled elsewhere to e-mail me his or her name and contact information (crombie@northrock.bm). I will include in a future column a list of all those estate tax practitioners who contact me to ask to be included. Readers can then decide to whom to talk.

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Domicile is the central and defining element of where you pay your death duties. From the UK tax website: "Broadly speaking, you are domiciled in the country where you have your permanent home. Domicile is distinct from nationality or residence. You can only have one domicile at any given time.

"You normally acquire a 'domicile of origin' from your father when you are born. It need not be the country in which you are born. For example, if you are born in France while your father is working there, but his permanent home is in the UK, your domicile of origin is in the UK.

"You have the legal capacity to acquire a new domicile (a 'domicile of choice') when you reach age 16. To do so, you must broadly leave your current country of domicile and settle in another country. You need to provide strong evidence that you intend to live there permanently or indefinitely. Living in another country for a long time, although an important factor, is not enough in itself to prove you have acquired a new domicile."

There are no hard and fast rules. Domicile is based on a preponderance of evidence, an accumulation of large and small facts and indications. It's like the proverbial pieces of spaghetti on a plate. The more pieces you add, the more chance there is that at some moment, the whole thing will tip over and spill onto the floor.

In assessing the domicile of a British resident who has lived in Bermuda for a long time, the authorities will ask any number of questions. Where do you live and work? For how long has this been the case? Where do you own property? How much time do you spend in each country? How regularly do you make trips to and from? Where do your children go to school? Where do you belong to clubs and video rental stores? Do you have a bank account in the UK, no matter how inactive? Do you have a library card in the UK? Where do you make charitable contributions? Where do you hope to be buried? Where were you buried?

That's just a small fraction of the more important questions. There is no answer to how many you must get "right" or "wrong" to qualify to be non-domiciled. It's a judgement call that will be made by the tax people, who will not be on your side. You may end up in front of a judge in a court of law, but you'll need a powerful case, since the law in these areas tends to err on the side of the authorities. Sorry I can't be any clearer. At a trust conference last week, presentations were made on recent domiciliation horror stories. Rich people in these cases, thought they were cool, but weren't. Whenever the tax authorities lose a case, they squeeze the rules a little so that they won't lose the next one.

That said, it is possible to shake off your domicile of origin, so all need not be lost. Gaining Bermudian status or a PRC is a powerful argument in your favour, but not necessarily conclusive. I repeat: you almost certainly can't work your way through this nightmare without professional help.

On to specifics. Readers sent the following questions: 1. "For British people living in Bermuda, which Government gets first option on taxing the estate? Are taxes paid in one jurisdiction offset by those paid in another jurisdiction?" From the UK tax website: "We give credit against inheritance tax for the tax charged by another country on assets situated in that country. For this purpose, UK law determines the location of the asset. If the tax that is charged on the asset by the other country exceeds inheritance tax on that asset, we limit the credit to the amount of inheritance tax." Professionals, weigh in with further details, please.

2. "Where does one apply for a certificate of non-domiciliation in Britain?" The answer would be the tax authorities in the UK, but writing those words sends a chill down my spine. I dealt with them over my father's estate. "We're not inhuman," a tax inspector said to me, but my experience was otherwise. Whatever you do, don't go writing to the UK taxman on my say-so. It might be a case of sleeping dogs, for all I know. Another question for the professionals to answer.

3. "A follow-up article in greater depth, please — and give us some more info on the whys, wheres, whens and hows about how to circumvent this imposition without losing our British passports." Holders of Bermudian passports would be ill-advised to abandon their UK passports, in case anything terrible ever happened to Bermuda. Better to arrange one's affairs in such a way that one keeps the passport, but loses the liability to UK death duties. Just giving up one's passport wouldn't, by itself, mean an exemption from death duties; that much I do know. Again, expert advice is required.

4. "If you don't know the answers, why raise the questions?" I thought about this for a while. I didn't want to upset anyone, but thought it would be better to let people know that they may have a problem, so that they could explore the situation. If you'd rather stick your head in the sand, feel free. A newspaperman's job, after all, is to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.

Job done. Now on to something I know more about.

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(From the Sports Section) Carling Cup Final, last Sunday: Spurs 2 Chelsea 1 (after extra time).

I don't want to make too much of this, but Sunday was the greatest day in the history of mankind since the Moon Landing. As you will doubtless know, my football team, Tottenham Hotspur, was officially reinstated as the greatest XI in the game today. I understand that Brazil, Manchester United and other worthless has-beens will be disbanding as a consequence.

I believe that the Bermuda women's cricket team should sign the Spurs' manager, Wendy Ramos, who became the first woman manager to win a major football trophy in Britain, not counting Jose Mourinho, who was technically only a woman's blouse. (Oops. My editor has just informed me that the manager is Juande Ramos, a Spanish gent.) One observer described my lads' performance as "the finest show of footballing genius since the PLP won the general election in 1998". (I was that observer.) I was lucky enough to see the game, thanks to the wonders of internet piracy. It is 41 years since I saw the Lillywhites lift a trophy.

On the financial side, I was so overjoyed that I splashed out and purchased a completely unnecessary packet of Smarties. It wrecked my 10-year financial plan, but I just didn't care. Once every 41 years, you just have to cut loose.

Now and forever, I shall live in a world where it is always last Sunday.