The weekend brought news of a momentous occasion in divorce law, with an announcement from the Government that it’s intending to end the need for one spouse to be deemed at fault in a divorce.
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Last New Year’s Eve, British businessman Richard Cousins, his two sons, fiancée and her daughter took were killed when their pleasure flight crashed into a river, killing all on board. This month, thanks to Mr Cousins’ foresight, the Oxfam charity inherited £41m from his estate.
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It’s the worst feeling in the world. Your company announces a restructuring process to ‘drive efficiencies’ – a euphemism which is slightly more palatable than its actual meaning: We need to save money, so we’re making redundancies. Suddenly everyone is thrown into a tailspin of worry.
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Of the estimated 5.4 million private landlords currently letting properties in the UK, a significant number are what the property industry describes as ‘accidental’, people who don’t live in their main residence but who need or want to recoup some or all of the outgoings associated with that property.
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With rising house prices steadily widening the gap between first-time-buyers and a foot on the housing ladder, more and more people find themselves spending the first years of their independent lives in rented accommodation.
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A statistic that still genuinely mystifies me is that 53% of all adults in the UK have not made a Will. It’s hard to think of any reason not to plan for what happens when you die, so here are 9 reasons to organise an appointment with a solicitor to make a Will right now:
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At about the same time that John Hancock was furiously dipping his quill into an inkwell to sign the Declaration of American Independence, the world’s first great economist was busy describing Britain as a nation governed by shopkeepers.
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I’d like to start this article by listing some things that we’ve grown up believing are true, but actually aren’t.
An Iron Maiden was often used to torture people in Medieval times.
Walt Disney invented Mickey Mouse
You can get a quickie divorce in the UK
With the number of contested Wills in the UK growing each year, the possibility that someone’s final wishes might be challenged is very real. If it happens, it will trigger a legal process that can be highly-charged and feel deeply personal to those on both sides of the argument.
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A great many grandparents live life without any sort of contact with their grandchildren and when access to a grandchild is denied life can become challenging and emotionally distressing. So what options exist if you find yourself in that situation?
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Last night’s launch of new BBC One drama, The Split, about three divorce lawyer sisters proves that the appetite for very public marriage splits and the ensuing divorces is in no great danger of being satisfied any time soon. But one recent high profile case has shown that divorce is not a financial meal ticket for life.
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It’s always better to be rational during a divorce, but some couples are so angry that they will do almost anything to punish each other for every transgression. Occasionally, this can include the damaging effects of one spouse poisoning their children against the other parent.
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The issue of whether or not to draw up a prenup is understandably uncomfortable, because it raises the spectre of divorce before promises of standing together ‘til death us do part have even been made. But there are good reasons why every couple should consider having one.
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If you listen very carefully, you can hear the sound of estate agents up and down the country rubbing their hands in anticipation. Along with warmer weather and new growth, spring also brings the urge for many of us to begin to think about finding somewhere new to live.
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Here's a little riddle for you. What do aliens, the Holy Grail and the Loch Ness monster all have in common? One of the admittedly many possible answers is that many people believe they all exist, but no one has yet managed to prove any of them are actually real.
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There are some things in life which, a bit like income tax, might be unpleasant, but are not always avoidable.Divorce is much the same. With precious few exceptions, very few people set out on their marriage with the intention of filing for a divorce at some point in the future
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If I were to break my leg, there is a very long list of people I’d call to help me before I plumped for a carpenter. Whilst he’d doubtless be able to knock up some really nice splints, I’d probably have some fairly strong reservations about the extent of his medical abilities.
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When a same-sex couple undertook fertility treatment which led to the birth of a baby girl, the intention was that both would be listed as her legal parents. However, due to mistakes made in processing the necessary forms, only one of the couple was shown as a legal parent.
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Home ownership is generally regarded as providing safety and long-term security, but this is not always the case as properties can be compulsorily purchased by public authorities to make way for socially beneficial developments. Any householders affected are entitled to be compensated at the full market rate, although in a recent case it took a court appearance to ensure this.
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When you appoint a solicitor to be the executor of your will, you can be assured that they will understand their duties and can be relied upon to comply with them. However, as a High Court case showed, the same sadly cannot always be said of friends or family members who are chosen to perform the role.
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