Private Client Articles

This case concerned a husband and a wife who married in 2008 and subsequently separated in 2015. There was one child born to the marriage who was severely disabled. The matrimonial assets were substantial, with the business alone worth around £490...

A secretary who resigned after her managing director said she wouldn’t employ someone because she was black has won her claim of unfair dismissal. Caroline Hobbs worked for Avon Care Homes from November 2015 until she resigned without notice in April...

A digital questionnaire designed to make home moving ‘cheaper, quicker and less stressful’ is now being tested in a pilot scheme. The Buying and Selling Property Information (BASPI) has been developed by the Home Buying and Selling Group, an...

A group of MPs have called for root and branch reforms of the inheritance tax system, including a cut in the standard rate from 40% to 10%. They also want to scrap most of the current tax reliefs, including the seven-year rule that allows you to pass on...

More and more parents are taking legal action to recover money they lent to their children to buy a home, according to research by the Times newspaper. It says there are now up to 15 cases a month compared with only 3 cases a month five years ago. Many of...

A judge had been wrong to order that a wife should pay rent to her former husband after she continued living in the marital home following their divorce. That was the decision of the High Court in a case involving banker Kerim Derhalli and Jayne Richardson...

Until now, mixed sex couples in England and Wales have not had the option to choose between entering into a civil partnership or marriage. From 2 December 2019, The Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) Regulations 2019 allowed mixed sex couples to...

The last 5 years has seen probate disputes in the High Court increasing year after year. Many people assume that when someone makes a will the will is final and beneficiaries and family members are stuck with it.  However, more and more people are now...

A mother has had to forfeit the residential care of her son after she tried to alienate him from his father. The case involved a boy who lived with his mother but had regular contact with his father and his paternal family. However, from March 2018, there...

A widow has been allowed challenge her husband’s will, which could leave her homeless, even though she began taking legal action out of time. The husband had died in 2015. His only asset was the house where the widow had lived since 1993. She was aged...