The government is providing an additional £1.3 million to enable more separating parents use the family mediation scheme. The extra investment is expected to help families resolve disputes away from court, such as those involving financial or contact arrangements for children and takes investment in the initiative to more than £3m since its launch in
The government is to allow vulnerable people to continue to be able to have their wills witnessed via video-link until 2024. The move extends measures brought in because of the pandemic. It’s designed to help people who are forced to isolate either with Covid or from another vulnerability. Ministers hope it will reassure all those
The Government offers a model assured shorthold tenancy (AST) agreement for private landlords to use which aims to strike a fair balance between landlords and tenants. In January 2021, the Government announced a change to the model tenancy agreement to assist renters with ‘well behaved pets’, who find it increasingly difficult to find landlords willing
Despite an ever growing proportion of the population choosing to cohabit rather than get married, nearly half (46%) of adults in England and Wales mistakenly think that couples acquire ‘common law’ rights after living together for a certain amount of time or having children together. These misconceptions can lead to one party being particularly vulnerable in the
Parliament has just passed The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 which will impose a peppercorn ground rent in new leases of flats. There will be a few exceptions such as shared ownership properties and in Islamic financing – they will continue to include rent. Ground rents will also be allowed to remain in flats
Which? has recently undertaken a survey whereby 58% of people said that pensions were not discussed or shared as part of their financial settlement. Pensions often make up a large proportion of the matrimonial assets and sharing of pensions should always be considered upon the breakdown of a marriage, particularly when there is a disparity
Generally, a marriage is considered to be ‘short’ if it was less than five years in duration. The Court will however take into consideration the period of cohabitation prior to the marriage if there was a seamless transition between the two. Parties are more likely to be successful with ring-fencing non-matrimonial assets where there was
The government scheme to help key workers and local first-time buyers on to the housing ladder has now got under way. A nurse and a police officer from Derbyshire are among the first people to benefit. The First Homes scheme offers homes at a discount of at least 30% of the market price to local
The courts have taken firm action against a husband who failed to comply with the terms of his divorce settlement with his former wife. The couple had been in a relationship for 17 years and had two children. The financial provision order had been made by consent in December 2018. One of its provisions was
The case involved Oxford Said Business School v Heslop. Heslop had made protected disclosures to her manager concerning the lawfulness of the school’s actions in a procurement process, and potential over-charging and breach of contract in relation to a key client. The manager felt that the allegations were misconceived. Shortly after making those disclosures, Heslop