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A “vindictive” husband who caused an “”unnecessary haemorrhage of money”” by pursuing unnecessary legal action has had his divorce settlement slashed by the courts. The case involved a couple who had married in 2005 and separated in highly acrimonious circumstances in 2016. They had two children, aged 13 and 19. During their relationship they had
There has been a large increase in house sales following the introduction of the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) holiday. After a 14.5% rise in July, residential property transactions in August rose a further 15.6% as more people decided to buy a new home. The increase came after Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a stamp duty
The High Court has upheld a vulnerable woman’s will and rejected a claim by her daughter that she had been subjected to undue influence. The case involved two sisters, Teresa Ann Coles and Heather Christine Reynolds. In 2002, their mother made a will leaving her estate to be divided equally between them. However, the relationship
A pharmacy worker has been awarded £15,000 after a tribunal found she had been subjected to age discrimination. Sue Walsh began working for St Chad’s chemist in Oldham in April 2017 when she was 60 years old. Immediately her lack of hearing and memory loss came to the notice of her co-workers who were aged
The Supreme Court has ruled that a woman’s sons will have to pay inheritance tax on her pension fund because she had not drawn upon it during her lifetime. The court heard evidence that the deceased woman and her former husband had been directors of a company. Shortly before her death, she transferred funds from
Machins Solicitors has achieved seven practice area recommendations in the latest edition of Legal 500 UK including one Top Tier ranking in the area of family law for the second year running. Among the areas of expertise in which the firm is regarded includes corporate and commercial, employment and family as well, dispute resolution, private
The High Court has settled a dispute between a couple who were separating and needed to value the shares in their company. The case involved Solent Garage Services Ltd and its two directors, Claire Lewis and Philip Clarke. The couple had established the garage while living together and bringing up their three children. They were
HM Revenue & Customs has rejected more than 30,000 applications from employers wishing to access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, according to research carried out by The Times. The newspaper says HMRC believes many of the applications may have been attempts to defraud the system, in which the government pays a percentage of the wages
A company has been granted a worldwide freezing order on the assets of a debtor who had put forward a “concocted case at trial”. The case involved GML International Ltd & Others v Harfield (2020). GML and the other claimants had brought proceedings to recover significant sums of money paid to Harfield, who resisted by
A landlord has been ordered to repay a large proportion of rent to the tenants of his house in multiple occupation (HMO) because he did not have the appropriate licence as required by the Housing and Planning Act 2016. The tenants had paid approximately £28,600 rent and sought a rent repayment order. The First-tier Tribunal