A businesswoman whose business fell victim to the recession has persuaded the family court that it would be appropriate for the settlement she had agreed to pay her ex-husband to be varied. The total settlement was £450,000, made up of: ...

A couple who defaulted on their £500,000 mortgage have failed to convince the High Court that the loan is unenforceable by reason of the lender’s failure to comply with the safeguards contained within the Consumer Credit Act 1974 . The Court...

Insolvent tenants can be a major headache for landlords. For example, when a corporate tenant goes into administration, the landlord needs to obtain the consent of the administrator, or of the court, to forfeit the lease. This is because administration is...

Many people fail to make a will, thus causing problems for surviving family members. However, difficulties can also arise when a person makes several wills, particularly if these contain drafting errors. A recent case concerned a woman who died having...

A businesswoman who was belittled as being ‘no more than a receptionist’ by her multi-millionaire husband has had her £2.7 million divorce settlement upheld after the Court of Appeal ruled that her ‘exceptional’ contribution...

When an elderly and ill woman was put under continual pressure by her brother-in-law to change her will in favour of his children, whom she rarely saw, her resolve finally cracked and in a bid to have a quiet life, she instructed her lawyers to draw up a new...

In the context of a dispute between parties to a building demolition contract, the High Court has ruled that an adjudicator was not entitled to change his mind after reaching a final decision and that, subject to further litigation or arbitration, the...

When a planning appeal to which the National Trust was a party came before the court and the judge due to hear it was a member of the Trust, he was automatically disqualified from hearing the appeal. The planning application was to build four wind...

Changes in the system for dealing with child maintenance claims will soon be fully implemented, with cases currently dealt with by the Child Support Agency being transferred to the Child Maintenance Service. As part of this arrangement, a new formula has...

For a will to be valid, one of the conditions imposed by the Wills Act 1837 is that two witnesses must attest the will by signing and acknowledging the signature of the person making it (the ‘testator’) and must do so ‘in each...