When it comes to estate planning on the death of an individual, the default legal positions for married and unmarried couples who have not made wills are very different. There is a common misconception that long term partners are automatically entitled to a share of their partner’s estate if they die without a will. However
A company had not discriminated against an employee by telling her that she had to speak English while at work. That was the decision of the Employment Tribunal in the case of a Russian born woman who started working for a company involved in testing products on animals. The company became concerned at the woman’s
A court has ordered that a deceased man’s bank account should be frozen because of a family dispute over his estate. The case involved a man who had died intestate, that is, without having made a will. His bank accounts containing £500,000 were closed down by his eldest son, from his first marriage. The man’s
The government is to oblige courts and councils to always pursue adoption when it is in a child’s best interest. Ministers say they will change legislation as soon as possible to “make crystal clear that councils and courts must place children with the person best able to care for them right up until their 18th
The government has confirmed that more than 2,000 divorce cases may have been voided due to an error on the self-assessment form on the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) website. The error involves Form E, which records the financial details of divorcing couples. The software running the form didn’t take all liabilities into account and so
The Right to Buy scheme has now been extended to housing association tenants. It is being piloted in five areas across England and will be rolled out to the rest of the country later this year. It gives tenants the opportunity to buy their home with a discount of £103,900 in London and £77,900 elsewhere.
Nearly 60% of employees say the new National Living Wage (NLW) will help to increase their motivation at work. More than 70% say it will make them feel more positive for themselves and their families. The NLW comes into effect on 1 April and will be set at £7.20 per hour for workers over the
The government is making an extra £5m available to councils to tackle unfair practices by rogue landlords. The money will be shared among 48 councils to enable them to carry out more raids, increase inspections of property, issue more statutory notices, survey more streets and to demolish sheds and prohibited buildings. Housing Minister Brandon Lewis
The government is to commission thousands of new affordable homes on publicly owned land as part of its plan to ease the housing shortage. The sites will be sold with planning permission already in place so that building can begin straightaway. The aim is to open up plots that are not big enough to interest
On Friday 29th January 2016, the High Court dismissed a heterosexual couple’s application for judicial review of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 stating that the legislation did not discriminate between heterosexual and homosexual couples. Case information Rebecca Steinfield and her partner of 5 years, Charles Keiden argued that heterosexual couples, like same sex couples, should