The principle that British persons divorced abroad can look to the courts in England and Wales to ensure that their ‘reasonable needs’ are met in the divorce settlement has been firmly established following a recent case involving a divorced...

The problems which can arise when there is an intestate estate that involves business assets were made clear recently when the High Court had to rule on a complex claim relating back to a death that occurred many years ago. At stake was a share in a farm,...

It is often thought that, when couples live together, they have similar rights to those who are married or in a civil partnership. However, this is far from the truth, as a barrister found out recently when she lost her case in the High Court . The...

When someone breaches a confidence and uses confidential information to make a profit, one of the legal remedies which may be sought is to require the person committing the breach to account for the profit made as a result. In a recent case , two...

The Court of Appeal has ruled in a case which establishes an important precedent for the setting of fines for breaches of environmental law. Thames Water had appealed against a fine of £125,000 for a mistake which had led to pollution of the river...

In many countries, bribery and corruption are commonplace. IKEA recently ceased its expansion in Russia, for example, because of the difficulties in obtaining permission to build new stores without being willing to engage in corrupt practices....

A will made two months before the death of an elderly woman has been set aside by the High Court after it heard evidence that by 2006, when the new will was made, she was ‘seriously losing her grip’. The new will left the woman’s entire...

When a wife agrees to allow the family home to be used as security for her husband’s debts, the legal situation is normally clear and the creditor can rely on her consent in order to take possession. However, a recent case , in which a wife...

The first prosecution under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 has been pending for some time and is eagerly awaited as it will provide guidance in practical terms on the likely level of fines in such cases, following the issue of...

An executor who stole more than £80,000 from the estate of a client faces a jail sentence for his crime. The man, who operated as a ‘will writer’, also faces a confiscation order against his assets. Much of the money was used to finance a...

A Procurement Policy Note issued in March by the Office of Government Commerce requires government departments and non-governmental bodies over which the Government has direct control to pay its contractors within 30 days. However, before hard-pressed...

The argument put forward by a farmer that he should retain the family farm after his divorce, because it had been in his family for generations and his wife was aware that it was the family tradition for it to be handed down from generation to generation,...

Following a comprehensive review and full public consultation, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) have published new UK Advertising Codes. The new Codes will come into force on 1 September...

Following a series of cases involving unqualified will writers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has announced that it has approved a Code of Practice which will apply to members of the Institute of Professional Will Writers (IPW). The code of practice will...

The penalties for failure to pay child maintenance, which can be severe, are not affected by the statute of limitations that normally applies to debts. A father who had failed to pay maintenance for several years recently found himself subject to a...

As the economic outlook begins to improve, businesses will be considering how to raise finance to support increased trading. Although the cost of any borrowing is often the most crucial issue, there are other important factors to take into...

When an estate containing assets such as property or unquoted shares is to be distributed amongst several beneficiaries, there is potential for dispute over the valuations of assets. A case which is now starting to occupy court time illustrates this point....

Companies House has announced that from now on its ‘WebCHeck’ company search service will be available all day every day…so, if a company owing you money is causing you to lose sleep, you can at least download their accounts in the...

Divorce is rarely a simple process: the financial negotiations can be time-consuming and difficult, particularly if business interests form a substantial part of a couple's wealth. There are certain problems which are particularly relevant to...

One of the more contentious issues in the administration of estates arises when the deceased had remarried, leaving ‘old’ and ‘new’ families, which often take different views about how the estate should be divided. The High Court...

A company which had goods stolen from a secured cage in a warehouse found itself uninsured against the loss, following a court case in which the company was found to have misled its insurers about the security arrangements. The insured held...

A recent case illustrates that cohabiting with someone else after a divorce may affect any maintenance payments received. In the case, a man who had been ordered to pay his wife £125,000 a year in maintenance succeeded in persuading the...

As anyone who has ever tried to collect a debt knows, there is a big difference between obtaining judgment and obtaining payment. In difficult cases, one of the ways a debtor can be encouraged to pay is by the creditor obtaining a freezing order against his...

Although a trustee is personally responsible for the actions they take, the law is not so harsh as to prevent a trustee who makes an innocent mistake from rectifying it. In a  recent case , a ‘receiver’ for a mentally impaired man (her...

Construction and plant hire companies should be aware that as of 6 April, when the Notification of Conventional Tower Cranes Regulations 2010 came into force, the Health and Safety Executive requires registration of all tower cranes. The HSE website...