Despite a 1.4% dip in 2023, UK house prices show signs of recovery. Experts now predict a 3% increase in 2024 amid stabilizing inflation. UK house prices fell by 1.4% in the year to December 2023, according to the latest figures from the Land Registry....
In an episode of The Martin Lewis Money Show Live, the financial journalist commented on the importance of Lasting Powers of Attorney, the legal documents drawn up when you are fit and healthy, authorising someone of your choosing to make decisions on your...
In a landmark decision, the High Court has granted Michael Spencer the right to inherit the family farm, challenging his exclusion from his father's will. This case highlights the legal recourse available when familial assurances clash with testamentary...
The Law Society has cautioned that the adoption of electronic wills may heighten the risk of fraud. In response to the Law Commission's consultation on wills reform, the Society emphasises the need for thorough research before implementation. While 50%...
The Galbraith Tables aim to offer a preliminary estimate for pension values, aiding informed decisions in financial settlements. When it comes to financial remedies, one of the parties’ main assets is likely to be their pensions. However, this...
In recent years, parental alienation has been getting a lot of traction in the media. In the last year, MPs, women’s rights groups, and the UN have raised awareness about the use of parental alienation as a tool to counterclaim in cases relating to...
It's clear that navigating child arrangements during the Christmas period can be challenging for separated parents, and your emphasis on prioritising the best interests of the children is crucial. J&P Solicitor Sarah Rose, from our Family team,...
If you and your ex-partner agree on all aspects of your children's lives, including where they are to live and the amount of time they are to spend with the other parent, the short answer to this question is you probably do not need legal advice....
In this article, we explore an alternative to divorce known as "Judicial Separation". Unlike divorce, this formal process allows couples to separate without legally ending their marriage, offering flexibility for various circumstances. Ultimately,...
The Channel 5 TV series, The Inheritance, has been gripping audiences with its dramatic story of a family at loggerheads over a will. The show features two sisters and a brother who expected to inherit their father’s estate, only to find that he had...
The process of applying for the presumption of death of a missing person is complex. A recent High Court ruling, in a case involving a person who had disappeared after entering the sea, sheds light on how a missing person’s will can be brought into...
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has been in the news recently, with the publication by the House of Commons Library of its report, ‘Child Maintenance: Fees, enforcement and arrears (UK)’, which sets out what steps the CMS may take when a...
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is taking action against deceitful will writing firms, launching an inquiry to safeguard the public. The probe focuses on unregulated providers offering will writing and pre-paid probate plans. Initial findings...
The unfortunate dispute that arose recently among the legendary soul singer’s sons illustrates what can happen when a person dies without having made a properly drafted will. Aretha Franklin, the American singer, songwriter and pianist that sold over...
UK house prices have risen slightly on a monthly basis, but the overall trend is still downwards, according to the latest figures from the Land Registry. The annual percentage change for average UK house prices was 3.5% in the 12 months to April 2023,...
Surveys consistently show that only four out of ten people in the UK have made a will, despite the problems and heartache that could cause for their loved ones. Even the Covid pandemic didn’t inspire people to put their affairs in order. There was...
In a landmark decision, the High Court has put an end to a family dispute over the validity of their late father's will. The contentious case revolved around allegations of forgery and a conspiracy to deprive one of the siblings of her rightful share of...
In our final chapter on the role of lawyers in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in the UK, we analyse the most recent legislation aimed at bringing equality and inclusion for this long-stigmatised community. From eliminating discrimination in the workplace to...
The Wolfenden Report and The Sexual Offences Act 1967 were early breakthroughs in the path towards equality and inclusion for LGBTQ+ communities (starting from the very basic decriminalisation of homosexuality!), followed by the Campaign for Homosexual...
A pregnant banker who was criticised for returning to the office to continue working after her waters had broken has been awarded £300,000 in a sex discrimination case. Jagruti Rajput worked as a senior compliance adviser from 2012 at Commerzbank in...
A Church of England college chaplain who delivered a sermon saying that it was OK for pupils to disagree with LGBT+ teaching, has lost his claim of unfair dismissal. Rev Dr Bernard Randall worked for Trent College in Long Eaton. The school invited LGBT+...
The UK government has announced plans to make mediation mandatory for separating couples before they can go to court to resolve disputes over finances and child custody arrangements. The proposals would apply to all suitable low-level family court cases,...
If you die without leaving a will, you are known as dying ‘Intestate’ and your estate will be distributed according to what are known as the ‘Intestacy Rules’. There are many issues with Intestacy Rules, from the fact that they have...
The High Court has rejected a man’s claim that he was entitled to inherit his brother’s estate instead of the brother’s wife. The claim was raised nine years after the final estate accounts had been signed. The issue arose because in...
A banker has lost her discrimination claim after jokes about her grey hair were described by a judge as “part of the irritation of day-to-day office life”. She was made redundant after her employer noted that she had only brought in roughly a...
The executor of a will has been jailed after he refused to give his nephew and niece their part of their grandmother’s inheritance. The uncle simply refused to say what he did with the money, so he was found in contempt of court and had to be located...
New government plans aim to make flexible working the ‘default’ and a right from the beginning of employment. The programme would not be limited to hybrid (office-home) but also include job-sharing, flexitime, and working compressed, annualised...
A woman has failed to overturn her mother's will, after claiming it left too much to her formerly estranged sister. The claimant failed to prove that her sister had “poisoned” her mother’s mind, so the court ruled that the will should...
Fundamental changes championed by the Court of Protection came into force on the 1 st of January 2023 and are soon to be enforced permanently from February 2023. The registration process to become someone’s deputy, that is to act on their behalf if...
A youth support worker has lost his disability discrimination claim because a tribunal ruled that the law was only designed to protect disabled workers against unfair treatment, it was not intended to give them an advantage over their colleagues. The case...
A salesman has won an unfair dismissal claim after he was fired for making personal calls on the company phone and giving a customer his personal phone number, because his employer made no attempts to contact him during the disciplinary proceedings. The...
Prolonged by a year to the end of December 2023, the scheme allows new buyers to provide mortgages that cover 95% of the total value of their property. This will help people with 5% deposits on to the property ladder. The government has extended the...
The government is to use its levelling up strategy to put pressure on developers to deliver more homes more quickly and make it easier for councils to regenerate disused land to create thriving communities. Amendments to the Levelling Up and Regeneration...
A mother has been awarded £60,000 after her bosses ‘gas-lighted’ her into working full-time hours after her maternity leave despite being on a part-time contract. Donna Patterson worked as a buyer in the Morrisons' supermarket online...
A father, who had promised his son that he would inherit a portion of the family farm and later disinherited him over a dispute, underwent a long legal process against his offspring. The son claimed to have worked at the farm for token wages for years under...
Despite not being her son and regardless that she had made no specific statements about his inheritance in her will and that her own child had been granted letters of administration to her assets, a 12-year-old boy has been appointed £50,000 from his...
Can you kill someone and still benefit from your victim's estate? The short answer is no. However, if it is found that a person did not intend to kill or cause grievous bodily harm (being charged with manslaughter instead of murder), they could be...
A recent survey from Which? revealed that seven in ten divorcing couples do not share their pensions. However, this could be a grave mistake when reaching a financial settlement on divorce as pensions often rank with property as the two biggest sources of...
Three siblings have failed to overturn their stepmother’s will after she left everything to her biological son. The son claimed that his mother had changed the will after the siblings’ father died so that he could look after her parrot. ...
A fashion designer in her early fifties who was passed over for promotion has been awarded £96,000 after making an age discrimination claim. The case involved Rachel Sunderland, who had worked as a knitwear specialist for Superdry...
Although not legally binding in UK courts, the Supreme Court holds that significant weight should be given to nuptial agreements, providing certain conditions are met. Historically nuptial agreements were not valid in the UK and they were contractually void...
Measures came into force on 21 July 2022 finally banning perpetrators from cross-examining victims in the family court. This was a practice already prohibited in the criminal courts. The ban also prevents alleged victims of domestic violence from cross...
A new approach to divorce proceedings in which one lawyer represents both husband and wife has been given the backing of Resolution. The group is launching a new model that allows lawyers to work with and advise couples jointly, including providing...
What is a Cohabitation Agreement? A Cohabitation Agreement is an agreement between two unmarried people who live together as a couple (or otherwise) and records the financial arrangements, rights and responsibilities of each party. There is a common...
The school summer holidays have arrived and for many of us, it is time for a much needed break. Particularly as travel restrictions, in the main, have been lifted. However, before you start packing your sun cream and planning how to get to the airport, you...
A care manager who was sacked eight days after revealing that she was pregnant has won a discrimination claim and been awarded more than £8,000 compensation. The case involved Gemma Ferridge-Gunn, who started working at Alcedo Orange in...
A cleaner has won his case of unfair dismissal after he made complaints about safety conditions and lack of personal protective equipment during the Covid pandemic. Mr Hernandez began working for Swiftclean in September 2018. In January 2020, along...
The High Court has ruled that a man’s will that existed only in draft form on a computer, but which was signed by two reliable witnesses, should be accepted as valid. This is a highly unusual decision because generally, the...
The Employment Tribunal has ruled that an employee who was dismissed while suffering from long Covid is entitled to make a claim for disability discrimination. It held that his symptoms met the criteria for him to be classed as disabled under the...
An Asda employee who was constructively dismissed and racially harassed at work has been awarded compensation of £40,000 for injury to feelings. Mrs S Henderson began working for Asda in 2003. She resigned in 2019 after being subjected to a...
The heart-breaking experience of TV presenter Kate Garraway and her husband highlights the value of drawing up Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) to protect your future. Garraway’s husband Derek Draper suffered a terrible reaction to Covid and...
According to the Office of National Statistics, around 1.5 million cases of domestic abuse were recorded in the year ending March 2021, with cases rising throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. With multiple areas of law covering domestic abuse, this article will...
Upon separation, it may be one parent’s intention to relocate to another country, relocate within the UK. However, this will not be an easy task when the other parent is being left behind and there is a possibility, they will not be seeing their child...
When you make that ultimate decision as to whether you and your partner are going to get married or cohabit, it is very important to consider the financial aspect of your relationship. This is without doubt one of the most important considerations you will...
The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022 received royal assent on 28 April 2022 which raised the legal minimum age for people to marry, or enter into a civil partnership, to 18 years of age in England and Wales in a move to prevent forced...
Background This case concerned W (aged 48) and H (aged 45). They began cohabiting in 2005 and married in 2006. The parties had two children (aged 10 and 11). The total asset pot was circa £6million. Notable assets in the marriage included the...
A court has ruled that informal writing on the back of an envelope was not enough to challenge the terms of a woman’s will. The woman had made will in 2012 with the help of her solicitor. After her death in 2019 at the age of 93, some...
The Employment Tribunal has ruled that an Irishman was racially harassed and victimised when his bossed danced "like a leprechaun" in front of him and mocked his accent. The case involved Jonathan Kelly, who worked in the warehouse at the...
The long-awaited reform to Family Law is finally here with the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, coming into force as of today, 6 April 2022. This is the biggest reform of divorce law in 50 years and aims to provide a more collaborative approach...
How is a no-fault divorce different to the previous law? A spouse wishing to divorce prior to the law change on 6 April 2022 had to prove that the marriage had irretrievably broken down by relying upon 1 of 5 facts. These facts were (1) the other...
What is a lump sum order? Quite simply, a lump sum order is an order for one party to pay another party a lump sum of money. These orders can be made upon finalisation of divorce, nullity and judicial separation and generally cannot be varied or...
The son of a car and property magnate has successfully sued his niece to gain a share of his late father’s estate and avoid becoming homeless. Colin Johnston was the son of Sidney Johnston, who died in 2017 leaving a £2.4 million estate to...
When a relationship breaks down, it is not just parents who can face difficulties in agreeing arrangements to be able to see the children. Grandparents can often find themselves in a similar position in relation to their grandchildren. In the current world,...
Gaslighting is a word used to describe the manipulation of another person to cause them to question their reality. It is a term we all know and often hear being used colloquially, however this word does not have a legal definition, nor has it been used or...
The aristocratic singer and TV star Bo Bruce has won a court battle against her brother Thomas Brudenell-Bruce, Viscount Savernake, over their inheritance after their mother died. Bruce, whose full title is Lady Catherine Anna Brudenell-Bruce, was a runner...
A man’s second wife has failed to prevent his son inheriting the family home after he died. The husband had married his first wife in 1988 and their son was born shortly afterwards. He worked overseas during the early 2000s, where he formed a...
Why were the Duxbury Tables established? The Duxbury Tables were established in the case of Duxbury v Duxbury [1981] 1 FLR 7. The parties had been married for 22 years and wanted to achieve a clean break. Mr Duxbury was the higher earner and it was...
The Employment Tribunal has ruled that a Catholic nurse was constructively and unfairly dismissed after wearing a cross necklace to work. The case involved Mary Onuoha, who had worked at Croydon Health Services NHS Trust for 19 years. For the first 13...
On 1 February 2022 the Office for National Statistics released their latest figures for divorces in England and Wales in 2020. Among other things, these show that in 2020 the average (median) duration of marriage at the time of divorce was 11.9 years for...
The long-awaited reform to Family Law is soon to take place with the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, coming into force on 6 April 2022. This is the biggest reform of divorce law in 50 years and aims to provide a more collaborative approach to...
A widow has been granted a court order to prevent her deceased husband’s children from challenging his will under the Italian legal system. The deceased was born in Italy but moved to England aged 20, where he remained resident until he died aged 78...
We are members of Resolution, an organisation for family law professionals committed to working in a constructive and non-confrontational way. Each year, through their Good Divorce Week, Resolution campaigns on a policy issue central to their principles....
The increasing use of unregulated online will writing services could lead to a surge in family disputes over a loved one’s estate, researchers have warned. Online services have become more popular over the last few years, particularly during the Covid...
An employment tribunal had been wrong to hold that an employee's alleged menopausal symptoms did not amount to a disability for the purposes of a discrimination claim. That was the ruling of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in a case involving...
The High Court has ruled that a judge's decision to limit a mother’s allegations of domestic abuse in a children act case was wrong and should be set aside, saying that "The allegations beyond those in the Scott Schedule were not either...
A man has been removed as an executor of his mother’s will after his brother complained that he was obstructing the administration of the estate. The case involved three brothers; two of them were executors of her will. Following several years of...
What is a Barder event? Named after a tragic case in 1987, a Barder event is an event that is unforeseen or unforeseeable which fundamentally undermines the basis upon which a concluded financial order was made. In the case of Barder v Barder , the...
The High Court has reconciled contradictory instructions relating to a deceased woman’s estate so that all three of her children can receive an equal inheritance. The court made the ruling after the trustees of a settlement applied for an...
A husband has won his appeal against a costs order in favour of his wife during divorce proceedings. The couple had been married in 2007 and had one child. Their marriage ended in 2017 following two incidents of violence by the husband. He was acquitted in...
What is the EU Succession Regulation? The laws which deal with a person’s assets when they pass away differ from country to country. For example, some civil law jurisdictions, such as France, have specific laws that reserve a proportion of...
A supermarket assistant was discriminated against when managers didn’t believe he could be intimidated by a 5ft 4in woman. The case involved Mr T King, who is 6ft tall, and his Tesco line manager, known as JF, who was five months pregnant at the time....
This guide aims to give an overview of the process involving the administration of an estate in France. The administration of a French estate compromises three main stages. In all cases, any French inheritance tax due must be paid within 6 months of the...
The Court of Appeal has ruled that a judge was wrong to order that two children should be returned to their father, who the mother claimed had been abusive. The mother was English, and the father was American. They married in 2015 and lived in England with...
The Employment Tribunal has ruled that a child care centre acted unfairly when it dismissed a nursery worker over allegations that she encouraged children to kick and taunt a colleague. The case involved Miss S Flynn who had been the team leader in the baby...
The recent case of WX v HX (2021) serves as a good reminder of the importance of establishing the different types of property when dealing with financial remedy issues on divorce. Background The case of WX and HX concerned an application for a...
A father has been told that he cannot invoke the Hague Convention to have his children returned to Austria after their mother took them to live in England. The Family Court was told that the children were British citizens born in the UK in 2012 and 2019 and...
The Court of Session has ruled that an education authority had not acted unfairly when it dismissed a teacher after indecent images were found on his computer. The issue arose after police attended the teacher's home to carry out inquiries relating to...
Cohabiting couples are to qualify for bereavement payments if one of them dies leaving dependent children. Previously, a surviving parent could only claim the financial support if they had been married or in a civil partnership at the time of their spouse...
On 26 June 2020, the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill gained Royal Assent and became the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020. This ended years of campaigning to remove the need for husband or wife to blame the other when seeking a...
This week, the government launched a 12-week consultation into the modernisation of Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA’s). An LPA is a legal document that allows someone to make decisions about your finances, health, and care on your behalf, should you...
The Family Court has rejected a wife’s application to overturn a divorce obtained by her husband in China. It held that the husband had taken reasonable steps to notify her of the proceedings and she had had reasonable opportunity to take part but had...
The High Court has outlined some tests for mental capacity and whether a person may have had delusional beliefs when making a will. The issue arose following a family dispute involving a brother and sister. Their parents had divorced in 1980 when their...
A nurse who was dismissed for refusing to work weekends has won a landmark ruling that could affect thousands of women with children. Gemma Dobson was a community nurse with North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS. She had worked fixed days because she had three...
A mother who wrongfully removed her two sons from their home after separating from their father has been ordered to return them to Lanzarote. The two boys, referred to only as X and Y, were three years and 18 months old, respectively. The father was...
The General Medical Council (GMC) has been found to have racially discriminated against a Muslim doctor of African and European heritage. In giving its ruling, the Employment Tribunal referred to the high number of complaints against ethnic minority staff...
The Employment Tribunal has ruled that a company acted unfairly when it dismissed an employee because he went to the pub while off sick from work. The case involved Mr Colin Kane, who worked as a driver for Debmat Surfacing, a company that lays tarmac. ...
Two adult brothers have failed in their attempt to be given a share of their deceased father’s estate after being left out of his will. The High Court ruled that it was clear that the father had made provision for them while he was alive and did not...
The introduction of no-fault divorces, which was due to take place this autumn, has been postponed until next year. The courts minister Chris Philp made the announcement in response to a parliamentary question. He said the provisions of the Divorce,...
Age discrimination claims surged by 74% last year following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s thought the figure is likely to keep rising. The research was carried out by Rest Less, the digital community for the over-50s. Rest Less analysed...
Two people who had separated after being in a relationship could still qualify as a "couple" for the purpose of applying to adopt a child. That was the decision of the Family Court in a case involving a same-sex couple who had never married or...
A divorcing wife has failed in her attempt to get her husband’s bankruptcy order annulled. She suspected that he had deliberately got himself into debt to avoid his financial obligations to her, but the court said there was no evidence to support such...
The High Court has clarified how shares in a man’s estate should be distributed when charities specified in his will no longer existed. The will gave several legacies before leaving the residue of the deceased's estate to ‘the British Racing...
The Ministry of Justice has announced that the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, which will allow married couples to be granted a divorce without assigning blame, will have a commencement date of 6 April 2022. This is the result of decades of...
A father has failed in his attempt to be awarded full custody of his son in a case made complicated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The father was a US citizen; the boy's mother was British. The couple began a relationship in 2014 when the mother was working...
Two teenage brothers have been granted a share of their father’s estate even though they were estranged from him and had been excluded from his will. The two boys, referred to only as J and H in court, who were aged 16 and 15 respectively at the date...
The government is planning to give leaseholders more control over their homes by developing a new collective ownership system known as commonhold. The commonhold model is used widely around the world and provides a structure for homeowners to collectively...
A husband has failed in his attempt to use the impact of the Covid pandemic as a reason to have his divorce settlement set aside. The husband and his wife had reached a settlement on 12 March 2020, shortly before the UK 's first national lockdown. He...
The High Court has provided some useful guidelines on what is required for a person’s statements to be legally classed as ‘deathbed gifts’ in inheritance cases. The court was asked to determine the proper distribution of the estate of a...
The Court of Appeal has reiterated that domestic abuse could mean far more than just violence and included behaviour that could affect the welfare of children even if they were not the direct victims. The issue arose in four conjoined appeals involving...
Getting divorced at any stage of life is always a challenging time. Emotions are understandably high, and the process can feel complex and alien. For older couples who may have been married for many decades, these issues can feel magnified even...
A woman who was adopted at the age of six has won the right to exclude her birth family from care proceedings concerning her daughter. The case involved a mother aged 19. Her relationship with her adoptive parents had been successful at first but began to...
A manager was unfairly dismissed after she was told she couldn’t work remotely at her son’s hospital bedside. The case involved Lorraine Hodgson, who was office manager of Martin Design Associates. Hodgson’s son was in hospital with...
The High Court has refused to allow a man to remortgage his deceased mother's house after her three other children disputed the validity of a purported will and where there was reason to believe that she had been subjected to undue influence. The...
Separating couples wills soon be able to apply for £500 vouchers to pay for mediation to help them settle disputes without having to go to court. Mediation is often a quicker and cheaper way of resolving disputes, which can spare families the trauma...
The High Court has ruled that a wife had not been entitled to access her husband’s private information during divorce proceedings. In giving the ruling, the judge warned couples not to resort to unlawful practices to gain an unfair advantage. The...
The wishes of a 12-year-old boy were not enough to prevent him from being returned to his father, especially as it was likely that he had been unduly influenced by his mother. That was the decision of the Court of Appeal in a case involving a boy who was...
Two major home builders have been told to remove contract terms that mean leaseholders have to pay ground rents that double every 10 or 15 years. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched enforcement action against 4 housing developers in...
The Treasury has agreed to make changes to the administration of Inheritance Tax following complaints from the public that it is too complex, old fashioned and needs to be simplified. The announcement comes after more than 3,500 people responded to a public...
The High Court set out the principles that should apply when sharing family property in a divorce settlement. The case involved a couple who had been married for 33 years and had three adult children, who were independent. Both the wife and the husband had...
An office manager who was made to pick up dog mess and had the boss’ son throw a ball at her head has won her case of unfair dismissal and sex discrimination. Eleanor Stevenson, who had once been a contestant on the BBC’s The Apprentice, began...
The Family Court has ordered that two children who were wrongfully removed from Italy by their mother must be returned to their father in Rome. The father and mother had married in 1998 and their eldest son was born in England in 2008. The family moved to...
The Court of Appeal has ruled that a wife in divorce proceedings had been entitled to remain in the family home until it was sold as part of the financial settlement. The court heard that the couple had lived in the matrimonial home with their two children....
A court has corrected an error in a man’s will to reinstate his original intention as to how his estate should be divided among family members. The issue arose because the deceased had made a will in 1998 dividing his estate into 52 parts to be given...
A wife has lost her appeal to reduce the amount her husband should be awarded from her pension fund as part of their divorce settlement. The husband and wife, who were aged 69 and 57 respectively, had been married for 20 years before separating. Following...
A teacher ordered to retrain and undergo a degree course at the age of 60 has been awarded £140,000 compensation in a discrimination case. Sue Allington had worked for nearly 20 years at the fee-paying Rose Hill School in Tunbridge Wells. She had...
A father has been granted a court order for his children to be vaccinated despite objections from their mother. The children were aged six and four. The parents had separated, and the children lived with the mother. The parents were involved in proceedings...
A woman who was misled by her cohabiting partner has won her legal fight to own 50% of the home they shared together. The case involved Natalie O'Neill and Shaun Holland, who had lived together for 12 years. Legal title to the property had been vested...
A customer service assistant who said she was told to resign after her employer discovered she was pregnant has been awarded £18,000 after making a discrimination claim. The case involved Mrs N Agarwal and St John Freight System UK. Mrs Agarwal had...
A buyer was entitled to pull out of an agreement to purchase a newly built flat which had not been completed and made ready to live in by the date specified in the contract. That was the decision of the High Court in a case involving Caledonian Management...
A husband who was struggling financially has been denied permission to appeal against a financial remedies order because he was 15 months out of time. The case involved a couple who divorced in 2016. The husband was a managing director and shareholder of...
The High Court has ordered that an 11-year-old boy who was abducted by his father should be returned to his mother. The case involved a couple who had married in 2009. The mother was Italian and the father was part Italian with dual nationality. The family...
The Court of Appeal has rejected a local authority’s plan to have a two-year-old girl placed for adoption. The girl, referred to in court as LC, had two older brothers, aged eight and seven. The mother had learning difficulties and mental health...
A husband has failed to persuade the court to overturn a divorce settlement he described a “grossly unfair”. The case involved a couple who had married in 1987 and divorced in 2010. The husband was a successful property developer and the wife...
When your relationship is challenging, it can feel like your whole world is out of sync. The strain of a relationship breakdown has only been made more acute by the Covid-19 pandemic affecting our livelihoods, wellbeing, and relationships. Our expert,...
A parenting plan is a written plan worked out between parents after they separate which covers all the everyday things that arise when parenting. This includes things like where the child is going to live, their education and their healthcare. The scope of...
The Court of Appeal has ruled that a child should be returned to her father in France rather than remain with her mother in England. It said that even though she had only lived in the country for a few weeks, it had become her habitual place of residence. ...
An employment tribunal was wrong to rule that an employee who had worked past a notional resignation date had, in fact, resigned. It had failed to consider whether the fact that the employer had asked her to reconsider her resignation meant that there had...
An administrator of a deceased person’s estate was granted a freezing injunction for a property that had been transferred into a family member’s name to avoid tax liability. The deceased had died without making a will. The administrator of his...
An employee who suffered from paranoid delusions following the break-up of a relationship has lost his claim of disability discrimination. Mr S Sullivan had worked for a small finance company, Bury Street Capital Ltd, as a sales executive since 2008. From...
A worker who was injured because of a practical joke played by a colleague was not entitled to compensation from his employer. That was the decision of the High Court in a case involving Tarmac Cement and Lime Ltd and Andrew Chell. Mr Chell suffered a...
A grandmother who failed to get permission to have her grandson live with her can now apply again because she’s moved to a bigger house The case involved a two-year-old who was referred to in court as J. He had three siblings. The local authority...
A husband has successfully challenged a divorce settlement arrived at through arbitration and has been allowed to have the issues reconsidered in court. The wife had applied for financial relief following the marriage breakdown. After an unsuccessful...
Four siblings have succeeded in overturning their mother’s will after the court agreed that she had not fully understood its consequences when she signed it. The case pitted the mother’s first four children against her youngest child, the...
A school technician who was discriminated against because of his disabilities and unfairly dismissed has been awarded £117,013 compensation. Mr D Walker suffered with psoriatic arthritis, depression and anxiety. He worked at Old Swinford Hospital...
A mother has won her appeal against a court order that she should return her two children to Germany to live with their father. The decision means the children can continue to live with her in England. The children and parents had all lived in Germany...
The Court of Appeal has ruled that a decision to remove three children from the care of their grandparents was mistaken and could cause them emotional harm. The children, aged six, four and three, had lived with their grandparents and maternal aunt since...
The Supreme Court has ruled that a woman’s sons will have to pay inheritance tax on her pension fund because she had not drawn upon it during her lifetime. The court heard evidence that the deceased woman and her former husband had been directors of a...
A pharmacy worker has been awarded £15,000 after a tribunal found she had been subjected to age discrimination. Sue Walsh began working for St Chad’s chemist in Oldham in April 2017 when she was 60 years old. Immediately her lack of hearing and...
The Private Client team at Judge & Priestley is proud to announce its first listing in the prestigious Legal 500 directory of leading UK law firms. Led by Partner David Chandra, the team also includes Partner Brian Tan, Senior Associate Nimalee...
The High Court has upheld a vulnerable woman’s will and rejected a claim by her daughter that she had been subjected to undue influence. The case involved two sisters, Teresa Ann Coles and Heather Christine Reynolds. In 2002, their mother made a will...
A “vindictive” husband who caused an "unnecessary haemorrhage of money" by pursuing unnecessary legal action has had his divorce settlement slashed by the courts. The case involved a couple who had married in 2005 and separated in...
Judge & Priestley LLP, the Bromley based solicitors’ practice, is proud to announce its most successful results ever in the 2021 edition of the prestigious Legal 500 directory of leading UK law firms. For the first time ever three of the...
Judge and Priestley LLP, the Bromley based solicitors are pleased to announce the further expansion of their highly respected Family Law team, with the appointment of two experienced solicitors at the Senior Associate level. Maria Conesa Gonzalez ...
The COVID-19 outbreak has caused major disruption to businesses and individuals around the world, with many finding it difficult, or impossible, to fulfil their contractual obligations because of the pandemic. Force majeure clauses and frustration of...
Madelaine Henwood , Head of Residential Property at Judge & Priestley, comments on the news that the housing market in England has been reopened by the government. “It is great news for buyers and sellers looking to move house, that the...
An engineer who was passed over for promotion and subjected to homophobic comments from work colleagues has been awarded £175,000 compensation. Peter Allen had worked for the aerospace component manufacturer Paradigm Precision as a quality manager...
A man has won a dispute with his parents over assurances made to him that he would inherit a share of the family farm after working for 30 years on low pay. David and Josephine Guest had made wills in 1981 under which their son Andrew and his brother would...
A recent case involved a woman who provided her son with £170,000 to buy a home in June 2005. In November, he repaid £90,000. In 2015, the son received £350,000 compensation after being diagnosed with mesothelioma. He died the following...
NHS and emergency service workers who die in the line of duty fighting Covid-19 will be exempt from inheritance tax liability on their estates. The exemption, which was originally introduced for members of the armed forces, was extended in 2015 to include...
In these unprecedented times, there are likely to be more people considering challenging a will. Judge & Priestley Associate solicitor Nasima Ansary considers the most common questions she has raised in this regard. What are the grounds for...
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...
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 man has been ordered to pay back £270,000 to his mother’s estate following legal action by the executors of her will. The High Court heard evidence that in 1998 the mother had entered into a property development partnership with her youngest...
New Year, New Start Fixed fee divorce in January 2020 January is busy time of year for family lawyers and sees an increase in the number of clients filing for divorce. Emotions run high during the festive period which can lead to already struggling...
A gardener was unfairly dismissed after he was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol, a tribunal has ruled. Lorne Anderson, who had a history of mental health issues, had worked for the Fife Health Board since 2001. His employer required...
A boundary dispute usually occurs when two parties both believe they have rights over the same piece of land. One party may erect a fence or build a structure over the land that the other thought they owned, and inevitably a dispute arises. While it is not...
A mother who wrongfully removed her three children from their father without his consent has been ordered to return them to him in Germany. The case involved a German couple were married in 2005 and divorced in 2012. They had joint custody of the children,...
A family have succeeded in correcting an error in a trust fund that would have resulted in a tax bill of £112,000. The case involved a discretionary trust created in 2011 in respect of the estate of a man who had died in November 2010. A beneficiary...
The High Court has granted a special order enabling a man to take legal action against his brothers in a family dispute over their father’s will. The case involved Satbir Singh Dhillon and his brothers, who were executors and trustees of the will. ...
People who were overcharged when arranging deputyships over a seven-year period can now claim refunds. It’s thought the average pay-out could be £240. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) sets the level of fees for the appointment of deputies, who...
A husband has failed to prevent a property held in his mother’s name being included in his wife’s divorce settlement. The couple had married in 2002 but separated in 2014, having lived in rented property throughout their marriage. The wife...
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has issued guidance on how couples should deal with cross border divorce after the UK leaves the European Union. It says that if your divorce is making its way through the courts in England or Wales at the time the UK leaves...
The High Court has declared that an 86-year-old woman’s will was valid even though she suffered from dementia at the time she made it. The case involved a family dispute between two brothers and two sisters. The High Court has declared that an...
Calling all residential landlords in SE London. Do you have a legal tenancy issue that we can assist with? Judge & Priestley solicitors are pleased to announce that we will be running free legal clinics for private landlords at our Beckenham...
The number of first-time home buyers has reached its highest level for 12 years. The latest mortgage data reveals that 35,010 people took their first step on the property ladder in August. That’s the highest monthly total since August 2007. The...
An 89-year-old woman who became the oldest person in the UK to win an age discrimination claim after being dismissed from her job has accepted a cash settlement. Eileen Jolly told the Employment Tribunal earlier this year that she felt “humiliated and...
Three brothers have failed in their bid to overturn their mother’s will, which left nearly all her estate to their sister. The mother had originally made a will dividing her estate equally between her four children. However, her views changed after...
A husband has won his appeal against a judge’s decision that allowed his wife a second chance to improve her divorce settlement. The case involved a couple who had been married for several years and had one son. At the final hearing of the wife's...
People who were overcharged when arranging deputyships over a seven-year period can now claim refunds. It’s thought the average pay-out could be £240. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) sets the level of fees for the appointment of deputies, who...
The government wants to introduce a package of measures to help people on lower incomes get on to the housing ladder. It’s reviewing a new national model for shared ownership to make it easier for people to buy more of their own home, including...
The Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (“Inheritance Act”) gives the Court the power to order financial provision from the deceased’s net estate for certain categories of applicants. The Claimant must bring their...
The Equality and Human Rights Commission says it’s calling time on the practice of using confidentiality agreements to cover up company wrongdoing in discrimination cases. The commission has published new guidance offering both employers and employees...
Tenants are being warned to be wary of being ‘ripped off’ by rogue letting agents who are flouting new consumer protection regulations. Two new laws, the Tenant Fees Act and the Client Money Protection Schemes for Property Agents, have recently...
The granddaughters of a farmer have lost their shares in his farm because of complications that arose when their father died without making a will. The grandfather had died in 1992, leaving behind a wife and four children. His will stated that the farm was...
A wife was entitled to a financial settlement from her husband that reflected British law even though their divorce was granted abroad. That was the decision of the High Court in a case involving an Omani man and Lebanese woman. The couple had been married...
The value of the government’s Help to Buy scheme has been called into question by MPs on the Public Accounts Committee. They say much of the money invested could have been better spent elsewhere. The Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme was introduced in...
The justice Secretary Robert Buckland has reversed the government’s previous decision to introduce a probate fee increases, which were due to see families paying £6,000 in order to apply for a grant of probate. Currently, in England and Wales,...
When a married couple makes mirror Wills, they usually follow a simple formula – everything is left to each other when the first spouse dies, then passes to the children on the second death. This is an efficient and proven structure when all children...
Pregnant women and new parents are set to receive extended legal protection against being made redundant after they return to work. The move is part of the government’s ‘Good Work Plan’. It follows a consultation which found that new...
A mother has lost her appeal against a special guardianship order which placed her children in the care of their paternal grandparents. The case involved children who had been the subject of a child protection plan due to parental neglect. A residency...
The new digital service for grant of probate applications has achieved a 92% satisfaction rating in its first 12 months, according to HM Courts and Tribunal Service. The service was introduced in July last year to streamline applications by dealing with...
A man has reduced his periodical payments to his ex-wife after he argued that his business income was not a matrimonial asset. The couple married in 1988 and had four children who are all now adults. The family had a good standard of living thanks to the...
Homeowners buying a property under Help to Buy are now allowed to take out 35-year mortgages. The government has moved to close what it describes as a loophole, which has seen purchasers using the scheme facing difficulties and uncertainty if they wanted to...
Five children have been taken from their mother after she allowed the youngest child’s father to live in the house despite him having a history of violence. The mother had four children from a previous relationship, and her youngest with her current...
A woman has won the right to her receive her late partner’s military pension, after a legal battle that lasted several years. Jane Langford had been in a relationship with Air Commodore Christopher Green for 15 years when he died suddenly in 2011. ...
The Court of Protection has stepped into safeguard the interests of an elderly pensioner who was unable to handle his financial affairs at a time when he was facing complex legal action. The case involved a 75-year-old man who had various medical...