A mother who was sacked because her employers felt that caring for her daughter was more important to her than her job has been awarded £18,886 in compensation. Maria McKeith started working part-time for the Ardoyne Association in Northern Ireland in 2010 while also acting as primary carer for her daughter. She was dismissed in
A family have been told they cannot make a claim on their stepmother’s estate following the death of her husband. The case involved a couple who died within a few months of each other. The wife had an estate worth more than £26m, while the husband’s estate was valued at £320,000. Both partners had children
A judge was not at fault when he exercised his discretion to award a woman a £4.25m divorce settlement based on her “needs”. That was decision of the Court of Appeal in a case involving a couple who had been married for two years but had a relationship stretching over nine years. The husband was
House prices in the UK rose by 4.1% in the year to March, taking the average property value to £215,847. However, the monthly figure between February and March dropped by 0.6%. The number of sales has remained stable for the last three months, but in the year to January there was a substantial fall in
Nearly 260,000 people have bought their home using Help to buy schemes and more than 870,000 have opened a Help to Buy ISA. The latest figures issued by the government show that: over 259,000 completions have taken place using one or more of the Help to Buy schemes, most of these are first-time buyers more
The High Court has allowed Bombardier Transportation to examine confidential documents after it alleged that it had been treated unfairly in a public procurement exercise. The issue arose after the company failed to win a £460m contract to supply trains to Merseytravel. The court heard that such contracts attracted the same group of tenderers, who
A landlord has lost a dispute with his local housing authority over the licensing of two of his properties that had been renovated without planning permission. The issue arose out of Part 3 of the Housing Act 2004, which provided for the selective licensing by local housing authorities of private-sector housing in particular areas. In
The recent Dementia Awareness Week, organised by the Alzheimer’s Society, put the spotlight on the challenges we face as we live longer lives and encounter the illnesses associated with old age. A study published by the journal, BMC Medicine, showed that the number of people who die from dementia is set to almost quadruple in
The problems that can arise if a person fails to keep their will up to date was highlighted in a recent case involving a deceased man’s estranged wife and his new partner. The man had separated from his wife in 1994 but they did not divorce. Shortly after the separation, he began living with his
The government has postponed its proposed increases in probate application fees because there won’t be time to introduce them before the coming election. Ministers hope to go ahead with the changes later this year despite strong opposition from lawyers, charities and the public. Under the current fee structure, fees for grants of probate are set