Read our latest articles, news briefs and legal updates across all our different services.
A commercial tenant has been refused permission to re-amend its defence to a service charge claim four weeks before trial. The court ruled that although the new defences had reasonable prospects of success, they could have been pleaded earlier and there was no good reason for the delay. The issue arose because the tenant refused
People are being urged to update their wills to include their digital assets as a way of preventing problems for their family after they die. Research by the Law Society shows that just over a quarter of those surveyed know what happens to their digital assets when they die. An overwhelming 93% had not included
A divorced husband has been told that he cannot use documents from a financial dispute resolution hearing (FDR) as evidence in a court case against him. The issue arose after divorce proceedings between the husband and his former wife. In 2018 a judge made an order providing for the instruction of a firm to value
The number of new homes under construction more than doubled in the third quarter of last year. Nearly three times as many homes were completed over the same period. The official statistics show that in England and Wales, 35,710 homes were started in July to September 2020 – a 111% increase when compared to the
A mother who took her son to England without court permission has been ordered to return him to Australia so that he can be close to his father. The mother had moved to Australia from England in 2002. While there, she had an eight-year relationship with the father. They separated in 2014 and began litigation
A wife in a divorce case has been granted a search order against her son following allegations that he had helped his father put matrimonial assets out of her reach. The wife said her son had assisted the husband in dishonest schemes that were intended to prevent her from obtaining the financial settlement awarded by
A woman has won the right to inherit her father’s estate after a “DIY will” supposedly signed on his deathbed was ruled invalid. Terri Tibbles had been the sole beneficiary of a will her father William wrote a year before he died. In a letter of wishes attached to that will, Mr Tibbles said that
The 15-month-old daughter of a vulnerable mother who could not care for her has been placed in the care of the local authority so she can be adopted. The girl’s parents had been in a relationship since 2017. The mother was a vulnerable adult with learning difficulties who suffered from a syndrome that required a
In an employment relationship, the identity of the employer is usually very clear; however, where an employee works for a group of companies, it can sometimes be trickier to identify which of the group companies is the true employer. This can sometimes cause issues, particularly from a tax perspective, when it comes to identifying where
My training contract was due to start on the 1st July 2020, and thankfully unlike many other firms, Machins did not postpone my start date because of COVID-19. I started my first seat, in the Private Family department in the Berkhamsted office, when the effects of the pandemic were lessened and ‘Rishies Dishes’ were all