Most people over 60 are not taking the necessary action to protect the assets they leave to their children in their wills, according to new research. The risk is that if their children divorce, some of the assets they’ve inherited from their parents could go to their ex-partner. Research published in the Times newspaper shows
The High Court has settled a family dispute over who should inherit a house that had belonged to a man who died 17 years ago. The court heard that the man, a grandfather, had purchased the property in 1994 when he separated from his partner and wished to provide for her. He was then 73
A financial broker has succeeded in preventing a commercial lender from approaching its clients. The case involved Medenta Finance Ltd, which specialised in financial products in the medical and dental market. It had acted exclusively for Hitachi Capital UK Ltd. Under a 2011 agreement, Hitachi provided finance for the sale of products through suppliers introduced
The government is planning a new system for buying and selling homes that it hopes will reduce the number of failed transactions. Currently, house buyers can have an offer accepted for the purchase of a home but then pull out at the last minute causing great inconvenience to the seller. The same problem can happen
Nearly half the people in England and Wales still believe in ‘common law’ marriage, with many cohabiting couples unaware of the risks they run if their relationship breaks down. A survey carried out by the National Centre for Social Research and Exeter University found that only four out of 10 people realised that cohabitation does
The High Court has outlined the issues to be considered when deciding whether a teenage father should be told that he has a child if the mother doesn’t want him to know. The case involved a mother who had become pregnant at 13 but was unaware of her pregnancy until her waters broke. Her family
A husband has failed in his attempt to get a £2m lump sum from his wife as part of their divorce settlement. The court held that there was nothing to justify such a payment. The husband and wife had married in 2007. They divorced in 2016 and had a six-year-old son. They had lived in
A company had not acted unfairly when it dismissed an employee for gross misconduct after he made offensive comments about the managing director on Facebook. However, the employee’s behaviour had not been so bad that it warranted dismissal without any notice pay so he was entitled to compensation. That was the decision of the Employment
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has ruled that a hotel worker is entitled to compensation because her employer failed to give her a statement of rights after one month of employment. The case involved three Polish workers who were dismissed after they complained about “persistent shortfalls in their wages, late payment and a falsification of their
The dismissal of a security guard after he submitted a grievance letter on behalf of work colleagues has been ruled unfair by the Employment Tribunal. The case involved Mr M Brough, who worked for Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital. In 2016, he emailed the trust’s chief nurse saying that security