The Court of Protection has helped a family resolve difficult issues over lasting powers of attorney for an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. The woman’s husband, who also suffered from dementia, had applied for an order appointing him and her two cousins as deputies so they could manage her affairs for her. The woman’s
A woman who was divorced but still living with her former husband when he died has won the right to claim a share of his estate, despite opposition from his sons. The case involved a man who had made a will in 1980 leaving all his estate to his two sons. In 1982, he divorced
The discovery that a grandmother had set up a trust relating to a house has saved a woman more than £1.4m. The court heard that the house had been bought by the grandmother in 1986 as a home for her son, his wife and their three children. The son and wife separated later that year
Rising court fees could prevent some small businesses from recovering debts and so force them into insolvency, according to the Law Society. The Society says it’s concerned that the government is considering more increases when the higher fees introduced earlier this year have “failed to deliver any tangible improvements in the court service or helped
How much can you rely on a property information form provided by the seller when you are buying a home? A recent case before the High Court shows the need for caution when interpreting the responses given on some questionnaires. The case involved a couple buying a property surrounded by woodland and farmland. Question 3.1
There has been a steep rise in the number of grandparents taking legal action to secure a role in the lives of their grandchildren. Some try to acquire parental responsibility in cases where the parents are unable to cope or unwilling to take responsibility for their children. Other grandparents simply want to have contact with
A mural by the famous but secretive artist Banksy has highlighted some interesting points about who owns what when a tenant leases a property from a landlord. The case involved the company Dreamland Leisure and a property it leased as an amusement arcade in Folkestone. Banksy painted a mural on one of the walls of
New regulations governing the use of section 21 eviction notices and specifying the information landlords must provide to tenants came into effect on 1 October. Landlords must provide tenants with the following information at the start of the tenancy or as soon as possible afterwards: • a copy of the Energy Performance Certificate for the
What are they? Lasting Powers of Attorney are forms you complete and sign, naming people you want to be able to make decisions for you which continues even if you are no longer able to make them for yourself (if, for example, you have dementia or are unable to communicate following a stroke). What type
Unless we have been through it before, most of us don’t know what we are supposed to do from a legal point of view when someone close to us has died. Our Private Client department can assist you to make sure you are doing the right thing by the beneficiaries of the deceased’s estate and