It is a cardinal rule in court proceedings in the UK that both parties to a disagreement must have a fair chance to state their side of the argument. This is particularly important in family cases, which are often complex and invariably emotionally charged. ...

If you enter into a business contract in good faith and it subsequently transpires that the contract was incorrectly authorised or otherwise invalid from the perspective of the other party’s internal regulations, where do you stand? Two recent cases...

Under the Children Act 1989 , a court may only make a care order or a supervision order if it is satisfied that the child concerned is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm. In a recent case, the Court of Appeal overturned the decision of a...

Retaining records after a person has died is essential in order to be able to demonstrate the amount of Inheritance Tax (IHT) ‘nil rate band’ that is available on the death of a surviving spouse or civil partner. It might easily be thought that...

Family break-up is always complicated and when there is a property involved, things can get very complex indeed. In principle, when a couple are cohabiting (not married or in a civil partnership) the property belongs as of right to whoever is shown on the...

The Companies Act 2006 is, at 761 pages, the longest Act of Parliament in British history and was only fully implemented in October. However, changes are already afoot! Apparently, the sections of the Act which require disclosure of share capital (the...

The Supreme Court has recently ruled to give the grandmother of a child custody over him despite the opposition of the boy’s father, who applied to have custody himself. In the view of the Court, acting in the child’s best interests means that...

There has been confusion about some of the changes in company law brought in by the Companies Act 2006 , which was fully implemented on 1 October 2009. One of the more beneficial changes for companies wishing to reorganise their share capital (perhaps...

The trial of an unqualified will writer took place in Bristol recently when a 45-year-old man was charged with the theft of £800,000 from a succession of elderly clients. The man had duped childless elderly people into inserting a clause into their...

When dividing family assets on separation or divorce, judges sometimes make some surprising decisions. Where these are erroneous or unfair, they can be overturned. In a recent case, a judge ruled that in order to achieve a ‘clean break’ between...

Insurers often try to give themselves ‘wiggle room’ to contest claims, which is one reason why they put so many questions in proposal forms. Over the years, the courts have established that where such a question is ambiguous, the legal...

Most businesses that fail do not fail because they are not profitable. They fail because they have negative cash-flow. Cash is king. The ‘upswing’ phase when the economy is recovering is the most dangerous time of all for most businesses. ...

The Office of the Public Guardian has responded to criticisms of its overly complex forms for creating a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) by issuing new and simplified forms. An LPA allows a person to give a friend, relative or trusted advisor the power to...

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has announced that it has levied fines totalling more than £39 million on recruitment agencies operating in the construction sector for breaches of the Competition Act 1998 . The agencies involved agreed to boycott...

After a bruising legal battle, which has cost more than £1.3 million in fees, a Yorkshire doctor has won the right to inherit her late parents’ farm, which is valued at £2.3 million. In 1993, Dr Christine Gill’s parents made wills...

Licensees will be happy to note that the Pubwatch scheme, which allows publicans to ban troublemakers from participating pubs, survived a legal challenge recently. Builder Francis Boyle had challenged a ban on him by members of the Haverhill Pubwatch...

Since the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 came into force on 25 November 2008, a Forced Marriage Protection Order (FMPO) has been issued in 86 cases. This compares with a predicted total for the first year of 50. FMPOs were introduced to help...

Dubious business practice will always exist but normally becomes more prevalent and is more often uncovered in times when business is tough. A director who discovers dubious business practices within his company can find himself in a difficult situation....

The division of the estate of a man who had a ‘senior moment’ when providing information for his will had to be sorted out in court recently. When Leslie Fawdon drafted his will, he left half of his estate to his nephew, described as ‘Mark...

A tax case involving a husband and wife who paid themselves millions of pounds in dividends from 42 insolvent companies without making the necessary provisions for corporation tax has recently been heard by the Court of Appeal. The companies are all in...

It may be assumed that when a couple purchase a property in equal shares, that is how ownership remains, but it isn’t necessarily so. In a recent case, the High Court had to rule on the ownership of a house, which had been bought for £30,000 by...

When someone holds goods belonging to someone else, (a ‘bailee’ in legal terminology), that person owes the other person a duty of care. A recent case shows that such responsibilities should not be taken lightly. The circumstances were that a...

The children of celebrities have the same right to anonymity in court proceedings as any other children, following a ruling of the High Court. The press have only been allowed into the family courts since April 2009 and can be excluded by the court when...

It is rare to see a petition under the Companies Act regarding the payment of excessive remuneration to a director, but the Scottish Outer House of the Court of Session had to deal with just such a case earlier this year. It involved the sole director of a...

Elderly people can become suggestible and it is, regrettably, not uncommon for avaricious people to attempt to influence them for personal gain. In a recent case in point, an elderly and wheelchair-bound lady altered her will a few months before she died so...