Court Upholds Care Order Made in Good Faith
The Court of Appeal has upheld the decision of a local authority to place a baby born in prison in care, after the behaviour of the mother was believed to have put the child’s life in danger. After the...
View ArticleUnrecorded Marriage Can Still be Terminated
How do you prove that you are married when a valid marriage certificate is not available? This question may not often arise, but it does sometimes happen that a marriage certificate cannot be produced,...
View ArticleTax Evasion Leads to Prison and 163;500,000 Repayment Order
Two company directors who lied to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) when under investigation for possible tax offences have been jailed for tax evasion and fraud. The pair ran a successful IT firm. When...
View ArticleWills Still a Potential Minefield for Many
According to a recent poll, more than one in eight wills is ‘self-written’ and one in 10 of those people who have made a will fails to tell anyone where it is. Since nearly 4 out of every 10 adults...
View ArticlePackage Tour or Travel Booking
Whether a holiday is a ‘package’ or just a booking of travel arrangements can make a big difference when it comes to the legal position if something goes wrong. A recent case shows why. It involved a...
View ArticleCourt Rejects Will Made Under Undue Influence
When an elderly and ill woman was put under continual pressure by her brother-in-law to change her will in favour of his children, whom she rarely saw, her resolve finally cracked and in a bid to have...
View ArticleUnfair Trading Legislation Stops Bogus Prize Draws
Not many prosecutions are brought under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, which are designed to protect consumers from the activities of unscrupulous traders. Recently,...
View ArticleAttorney Control Absolute, Rules Judge
When someone is appointed under a power of attorney, their obligations can be onerous enough without the person who appointed them (the donor) trying to impose restrictions on their ability to...
View ArticleHusband Loses Appeal Over 163;7 Million Trust Fund Assets
A husband has lost his appeal against an order made in July 2010 for ancillary relief (the legal term for financial provision for an ex-spouse) that put family assets of £10 million, including £7...
View ArticleWill Challenge Fails
If you sign a will that is incorrectly drafted, you may think it would be a simple matter for the will to be amended after your death. Regrettably, this is often not the case. A will can be varied,...
View ArticleHomeowner's Fine for Breaching Planning Laws Justified
A homeowner who was fined £960 after he failed to comply with a local authority enforcement notice requiring him to demolish an unauthorised extension to his property has lost an appeal against his...
View ArticleThe Changing Face of Divorce
Statistics show that 33 per cent of marriages that took place in 1995 had ended in divorce 15 years later. This compares with 22 per cent of marriages that took place in 1970. The workload of the...
View ArticleBankruptcy Annulled When HMRC Ignore Disability Discrimination Obligations
A woman who was suffering from a chronic mental illness and had developed a phobia of opening mail had her bankruptcy annulled by the High Court recently after HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) were judged...
View ArticleFather's Gifts to Daughter Challenged by Sister
When a Jersey multi-millionaire gave most of his assets away to one of his daughters in the months prior to his death, leaving an estate of less than £100,000 to be shared by all three of his children,...
View ArticleLong-Term Gym Membership Contracts Unfair
The High Court has upheld a challenge by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to various terms found in some gym membership contracts – most notably lengthy minimum membership periods – ruling that such...
View ArticleCare Defeats Will Challenge
When an elderly woman left a will that excluded one of her sons, who had been charged with (but not convicted of) several counts of fraud in relation to a business he ran with her other son, the...
View ArticleBusinesswoman's 163;2.7 Million Divorce Award Upheld
A businesswoman who was belittled as being ‘no more than a receptionist’ by her multi-millionaire husband has had her £2.7 million divorce settlement upheld after the Court of Appeal ruled that her...
View ArticleCorrupt Charity Officials Jailed
Six men who between them stole millions of pounds from a charity set up to assist asylum seekers were recently jailed for terms of up to four and a half years at Birmingham Crown Court. The six were...
View ArticleShared Parental Responsibility and Divorce
Having rejected the findings of a report it commissioned into the parenting of children after divorce, the Government has thrown into doubt the whole area of how this issue will be dealt with in...
View ArticleChild Support and Insolvency
When a person goes bust, what is the position regarding a debt they owe to the Child Support Agency (CSA) with regard to arrears of maintenance payments? This question arose recently when a man applied...
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