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August 2024Office News
8 April 2024Legal News
Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023
Measures include requiring those forming a new company to confirm that they do so for lawful purposes within the application. The application must also contain a statement that none of the subscribers is a disqualified director.
Email addresses must be provided and kept up to date, although these will not be publicly available.
An appropriate address must be registered for the company which means that documents sent there would be expected to come to the attention of the person acting on behalf of the company and the delivery is capable of being recorded by obtaining an acknowledgement of delivery. Therefore PO Box addresses are not permissible.
For more information on this and related topics, please see this month's article in Cirencester Scene or contact us for further information.
13 February 2024Legal News
Government says no to compulsory mediation
Instead, they have proposed to now launch a new pilot focused on the provision of early legal advice. It is hoped that parties receiving quality legal advice at the outset of separation will be much more likely to come to an agreement, avoiding making an application to court and will be able to consider other means of resolution, including mediation.
29 January 2024Legal News
Press Reporting in Family Court Case expanded again
The President's foreword to the report reads:
"The present system in the Family Court whereby a journalist may attend any hearing but may not always report what they observe, is not sustainable. I have reached the conclusion that there needs to be a major shift in culture and process to increase the transparency in a number of respects."
Pilot schemes began in a number of courts in 2023 relating to children (both public law and private law cases) and from 29 January 2024 will be extended meaning that almost half of all family courts will be included, including all of the London Family Courts.
From 29 January 2024 a pilot scheme will also begin for the section of the family court that deals with financial claims on divorce and other similar claims.
25 November 2023Office News
A beautiful day for the Cirencester Advent Festival
Thanks to Cirencester Town Council and the many volunteers for making this memorable event happen for our town.
19 November 2023Office News
Christmas in Cirencester - a correction
We have mistakenly put an advertisement in the Cirencester Scene magazine referring to music and sound which we sponsored last year. To set the record straight we confirm that Wenn Townsend are sponsoring music and sound this year.
We are very sorry for this error.
31 October 2023Legal News
Big Bonuses: Sharing the Wealth in Family Cases
Whilst other financial regulations on pay and bonuses will remain, the UK seems to be heading back to the pre financial crash era of unlimited bonuses. No doubt therefore this will be an important consideration for couples who are separated/ing or are in the process of divorce where one spouse might now expect a significantly increased bonus.
20 August 2023Office News
12 June 2023Office News
Discontinuation of use of DX Postal Services
18 February 2023Legal News
Changes to the Legal Ombudsman scheme rules from April 2023
Currently, the Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within 6 years of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within 3 years of you realising there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of our final response to you.
However from 1 April 2023 the Legal Ombudsman will expect complaints to be made to them within a year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within a year of you realising there was a concern. The requirement to refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of our final response to you remains the same.
Please see our Complaints Policy for details of how and when to make a complaint.
29 January 2023Office News
11 November 2022Office News
We are pleased to welcome our locum solicitor Joanna Wright who has many years' experience in Family Law matters, to look after Steven's clients going forward.
6 November 2022Office News
Cirencester Advent Festival 2022
18 September 2022Office News
6 April 2022Legal News
"No-fault divorce" finally becomes law
Their long-running campaign to allow no-fault divorce was successful when the government passed legislation in June 2020. The new arrangements come into force on April 6.
Previously, when a marriage broke down a husband and wife would have to blame each other, either citing adultery or producing details of the other's 'unreasonable behaviour'. This necessity can poison a previously amicable split and make discussions harder around important issues like family finances and arrangements where chlldren are involved.
The change brings England and Wales in line with Scotland where no-fault divorce was enacted in 2006. Scotland has seen no long-term increase in divorce rates since the reforms were introduced.
31 October 2021Office News
Cirencester Advent Festival and Street Market 2021
13 April 2021Legal News
Family Mediation Voucher Scheme
11 April 2021Special Update
In the meantime current arrangements will continue and we look forward to hearing from you.
Please keep checking our website and Facebook page for further updates.
28 February 2021Special Update
When restrictions are eased again we hope to welcome clients and visitors back in person. Meanwhile remote working will continue.
Please keep checking our website and Facebook page for further updates.
25 June 2020Special Update
In addition we will now offer some sit-down socially-distanced meetings indoors for some of our Probate clients.
Meanwhile we are gradually increasing the time our staff spend in person in the office. Some remote working will continue.
Please keep checking our website and Facebook page for further updates.
16 April 2020Special Update
During this time we will still be available by email and telephone and will be working on current transactions remotely to try to achieve as near as possible a normal service for our clients.
Please do keep in touch and we will do our best to help in the current unusual circumstances.
23 March 2020Special Update
We will contact our clients with ongoing matters by phone and/or email.
In the meantime please continue to check our website and Facebook page for further updates..
July 2019Legal News
The key issue the court has been asked to decide is which of Mr and Mrs Scarle died first.
Why does it matter?
Mr and Mrs Scarle owned their property in Leigh On Sea together. If Mr Scarle died first, then his share of the property would have briefly passed to his wife. When she died, the property would then pass to her children Deborah and Andre. But if Mrs Scarle died first, her share would have briefly passed to her husband, and then on to his daughter Anna when he died.
What does the law say?
The relevant legislation is section 184 of the Law of Property Act 1925. Section 184 says
"In all cases where... two or more persons have died in circumstances rendering it uncertain which of them survived the other or others, such deaths shall (subject to any order of the court), for all purposes affecting the title to property, be presumed to have occurred in order of seniority, and accordingly the younger shall be deemed to have survived the elder."
So where it's not possible to determine who died first there is a presumption that it was the oldest person.
The need to use this legislation rarely arises in the modern day as it is usually possible to determine who, of two people, has died first (even when the deaths are very close or simultaneous). The last major case citing this legislation took place in 1963 where a couple had drowned at sea.
The circumstances of this case
Although experts were instructed it was not possible to reliably determine even an approximate date of death, let alone time. The parties presented evidence based on sightings by neighbours and the date of post found in the property which had been opened.
Mr Scarle was aged 79 at his death whilst his wife was aged 69. As Mr Scarle was the eldest, under section 184 it is presumed that he died first. Lawyers on behalf of Mrs Scarle's daughter Deborah argued that must be right and said that the presumption is there to provide a solution in cases where it is not certain who survived longest, as in this case.
Lawyers for Mr Scarle's daughter Anna argued that, on the balance of probabilities, it was Mrs Scarle who died first. This was based on evidence about the state of Mrs Scarle's body when she was found by the police, which suggested she had been dead for longer than Mr Scarle.
However, Deborah's lawyers argued that the presumption under section 184 would not be rebutted even if it was possible to show that Mrs Scarle had 'probably' died first there would need to be "clear, reliable and compelling evidence" to show, "beyond reasonable doubt", that Mrs Scarle had died first.
The judge hearing the case has reserved his decision until a later date, so we will wait to see how the case is decided.
In the meantime, although the circumstances of the couple's death are very unusual and we do not know what the couple's testamentary wishes were, the case demonstrates the importance of making sure that you have a valid will recording your wishes, as an intestacy may not produce the result you intend.
July 2019Legal News
Lady Hale speaks on the evolution of the concepts of marriage and family
In her speech, she concludes that there "three things stand out from the developments of the last 50 years:
"The first is an increasing desire and respect for individual autonomy in adult decision-making - by both men and women... At the same time, we increasingly respect their decisions to bring their adult relationships to an end and their autonomy in deciding upon the financial consequences of doing so...
Secondly, at the same time, the interests of the children involved are increasingly seen as paramount... Their rights to understand and develop their relationships with their parents - of all sorts - while feeling secure in their care arrangements lie at the heart of this. So children's interests are seen as being individual to them in a way that would have been unthinkable in the past.
But thirdly, therefore, is there a tension between these two evolving trends? Can we allow adults their individual autonomy if this conflicts with the best interests of their children?"
July 2019Legal News
Lady Hale made her comments in a speech entitled 'What is a 21st Century Family', delivered at the International Centre for Family Law, Policy and Practice on 1 July but published by the Supreme Court yesterday.
Baroness Deech's bill had its third reading in the House of Lords in December. It is now before the Commons, though no date for a second reading has been set.
Under the bill, pre- and post-nuptial agreements would be binding provided certain conditions are met. Matrimonial property would be divided equally and spousal maintenance limited to five years unless the spouse would otherwise suffer serious financial hardship.
Lady Hale questioned the bill's 'one size fits all' approach. Referring to critics who say that 'no-fault' divorce legislation will weaken the stability of marriage, she said: "More threatening in my view is Baroness Deech's bill, which has made its way through the House of Lords and is now before the commons."
She said: "I can see the attractions of all of this when set against the agony, the uncertainty and the expense of seeking our tailor-made solutions. But I question how one size fits all can possible meet the justice of the case or fulfill the role of the family in shouldering the burdens which it has created rather than placing them upon the state. I fear that it assumes an equality between the spouses which is simply not there in many, perhaps most, cases."
July 2019Legal News
July 2019Legal News
Local authorities accountable for protection of all vulnerable children in their area
A previous Court of Appeal decision which gave social workers exemption from liability in cases where children who are known to social services are harmed was also overruled.
In the judgment in Poole Borough Council v GN which was handed down at the Supreme Court, the argument that defensive social working decisions would be made if they were afraid of civil liability was found to be outdated and disapproved of, and that social workers could be found to owe children a duty of care to protect them from harm even when they are not the subject of a formal care order.
July 2019Office News
Alison Fielden & Co. hold cake sale in aid of CHYP
April 2019Legal News
New Law proposed to end the need to find fault or wait for years for a divorce
The move follows a public consultation where family justice professionals and those with direct experience of divorce voiced their support for reform. New legislation will therefore be introduced to Parliament to update our 50-year-old divorce law which has been shown to exacerbate conflict.
Ministers are acting to change the law after responses also revealed that the current system can work against any prospect of reconciliation, and can be damaging to children by undermining the relationship between parents after divorce.
Current laws demand proof that a marriage has broken down irretrievably and force spouses to evidence 'unreasonable behaviour' or years of separation, even in cases where a couple has made a mutual decision to part ways.
Marriages are not saved by the ability of one spouse to 'contest' a divorce in court. Very few divorces are contested but this practice is known to be misused by abusers choosing to contest a divorce purely to continue their coercive and controlling behaviour. The government therefore proposes to remove it.
Proposals for changes to the law include:
As always the devil will be in the detail, we await sight of the legislation. It is not yet known when these proposed changes in the law will take place and people should defer taking legal advice on their situation.
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