A mother has been told by the High Court that she cannot take her two-year-old daughter to live with her in Canada. The case involved a couple who began their relationship in England in 2013. The father was British and the mother had dual British/Canadian nationality. They never married and it appeared that they had
The Court of Appeal has ruled that divorce settlements don’t have to try to enable each partner to maintain the same living standards they enjoyed during marriage. Mr Justice Moylan said he did not agree that “need should be met at a level similar or comparable to the standard of living during the marriage”. He
The main residence tax allowance of £100,000 planned by former chancellor George Osborne to reduce inheritance liability has now come into effect. Inheritance tax is set at 40% and becomes payable once the tax free threshold of £325,000 has been passed. It is one of the most unpopular taxes as it reduces the amount of
Wide-ranging proposals to streamline the process of buying and selling homes have been put forward by the Conveyancing Association (CA). The ideas have been published in a strategic plan entitled, Building the Framework for the Future. It follows on from the CA’s White Paper, Modernising the Home Moving Process, published last year. The proposed measures
A teacher with bipolar disorder has been awarded £346,000 compensation in a disability discrimination case in which she says she was “bullied and victimised”. Nicola Sinclair was forced to resign from the Bishop of Llandaff Church in Wales High School after developing mental health issues. She had worked there for 23 years. Three months after
More than 350 employers have been named and shamed for failing to pay the national minimum wage rates. It’s the largest list of its kind so far produced by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and names 360 businesses that underpaid 15,520 workers a total of £995,233. Employers in the hairdressing, hospitality and
A woman has won a dispute with her siblings over the validity of their mother’s will, which had been mislaid shortly after being made. Following the mother’s death, the siblings claimed there was no will and so were granted letters of administration enabling them to dispose of her estate and share the proceeds. When a
The government has announced plans to build thousands of starter homes on brownfield sites across the country. They will be built exclusively for first-time buyers between 23 and 40 years old and sold at a discount of at least 20% below market value. The scheme will be run by the Homes and Communities agency in
The landlord of a holiday park has won a legal dispute with chalet tenants over service charges. The tenants held long leases that obliged them to pay whatever the landlord “”may reasonably require on account”” by 31 December every year to maintain and manage the park. The lease specified that the service charge was to
The government has announced a series of wide-ranging measures to reform the housing market and provide more homes for people to buy or rent. The measures are designed to help local authorities, developers and small builders to increase the housing stock by reducing obstacles that delay or even prevent developments going ahead. It’s hoped they