Generally, a marriage is considered to be ‘short’ if it was less than five years in duration. The Court will however take into consideration the period of cohabitation prior to the marriage if there was a seamless transition between the two. Parties are more likely to be successful with ring-fencing non-matrimonial assets where there was
The government scheme to help key workers and local first-time buyers on to the housing ladder has now got under way. A nurse and a police officer from Derbyshire are among the first people to benefit. The First Homes scheme offers homes at a discount of at least 30% of the market price to local
The courts have taken firm action against a husband who failed to comply with the terms of his divorce settlement with his former wife. The couple had been in a relationship for 17 years and had two children. The financial provision order had been made by consent in December 2018. One of its provisions was
The case involved Oxford Said Business School v Heslop. Heslop had made protected disclosures to her manager concerning the lawfulness of the school’s actions in a procurement process, and potential over-charging and breach of contract in relation to a key client. The manager felt that the allegations were misconceived. Shortly after making those disclosures, Heslop
The case involved JM Solutions UK Ltd. Its two directors lived in Romania, and since the Covid pandemic they communicated with staff via email and telephone. The employee, referred to as Dave, was the company’s office and sales manager, and was responsible for dealing with customers and negotiating rates. His contract of employment contained a
A software designer has lost his appeal against a court ruling that his employer owned the copyright on his work. The case involved Penhallurick and MD5 Ltd. Penhallurick had been employed by MD5 in 2006 to develop virtual forensic computing (VFC) software, after developing a manual VFC method as part of his MSc degree. VFC
The government has confirmed that probate fees will increase to a rate of £273 for all applicants, regardless of the size of the estate, from 26th January 2022. At present, where an estate is more than £5,000, HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) charges on a two tier scale. If you are a probate practitioner
Taylor Wimpey has agreed to remove terms from leasehold contracts that cause ground rents to double in price every 10 years. The effect of these increases has been that people have often struggled to sell or obtain a mortgage on their home. Their property rights can also be at risk if they fall behind on
A university lecturer was unfairly dismissed after she was accused of being ‘unnaturally loud’. The case involved Dr Annette Plaut, who was an experimental physics lecturer at the university of Exeter until she was fired in 2019. She had been at the university since 1990. Her style involved leading many heated discussions which included expressive
January is the time for making resolutions to give ourselves a fresh start for the New Year. It’s good to take stock and decide to eat less or exercise more but there’s so much more we could be doing to improve our lives and protect ourselves for the future. Here are three New Year Resolutions