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The Court of Appeal has ruled that a judge got it wrong when calculating the divorce settlement for a woman who gave up a lucrative career to look after her children. The case of Julia Hammans will now be re-tried by another judge to ensure that she is treated fairly. The court heard that Ms
A judge’s decision to separate two teenage brothers from their mother and also from each other was based on her own personal opinion of the boys and has therefore been overturned. The residence of the brothers came into dispute ten years after the separation of their parents. They had always lived with their mother and
Two sisters have been appointed to manage the estate of their mother who is suffering from dementia. The appointments were made by the Court of Protection despite an objection from a brother of the two sisters. The case involved a woman who had not drawn up a lasting power of attorney stating who she wanted
A landlord has been prevented from serving a possession notice because the tenant’s deposit had not been placed in an authorised protection scheme. This was in spite of the fact that that the deposit had been paid before the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) regulations came into force. The case involved a tenant who had started
A contractor that was left more than £100,000 out of pocket when a customer cancelled a building project has been awarded damages by the High Court. The compensation was awarded even though the firm didn’t have a signed contract. The issue arose after the firm won a tender to build an extension to a house.
Large and listed firms may soon have to publish details about their payment practices under proposals being drawn up by the government. Companies will have to provide information about their average payment time and the proportion of invoices paid beyond terms. They will also have to reveal the percentage of invoices paid within 30 days,
Handing over a family business to the next generation can prove surprisingly difficult for many people. Research by the Family Business Place website suggested the issue can be so challenging that 62% of families would consider selling their business because of the difficulties of passing it on to family members. Another 55% said they felt
The Law Commission wants to reform the law relating to the right to light, in an effort to balance the legitimate yet often conflicting interests of both developers and property owners The Commission is concerned that under the current system, there is no time limit for bringing claims that a right to light has been
Buy to let investors could save a total of £50m a year because of the stamp duty reforms, if property purchases continue at the current level. The reforms, announced by Chancellor George Osborne in the Autumn Statement, swept away the much criticised ‘slab tax’ approach to stamp duty and replaced it with a more progressive
A bus company has won its appeal against a ruling that it had discriminated against a disabled passenger. The issue arose after 36-year-old Doug Paulley from West Yorkshire was unable to board a bus because the area designated for wheelchairs was occupied by a woman and her baby who was in a buggy. The woman