LawSpot

Doubtless many of our clients will have heard about the events at Colehill Cricket Club earlier this year, which was forced to halt all adult matches following complaints from residents, who live near the ground, about balls being hit for six into their properties. Youth cricket was allowed to continue as boys and girls couldn’t hit a six to the same distance as adults. The cricket balls were landing in gardens and causing damage causing two of the club’s neighbours to make complaints, one of whom claimed damages (compensation) for broken roof tiles. Consequently the club was facing rising insurance premiums and feared being sued by neighbours. Fortunately, £35,000 has been raised to erect safety netting 26 foot high around the grounds of containing the cricket pitches, which has solved the problem.

Each weekend, millions gather for sports, but do they grasp the legal risks? “Volenti non fit injuria” implies if you accept risks, you may forgo compensation. Examples show consent can’t protect reckless acts. Learn your rights; contact HGW’s litigation solicitors for guidance.

‘Down the pub last night, I opened up about my divorce. Everyone seems to have an opinion or experience. All of which are horrific. I don’t want to be taken to the cleaners’. You are understandably worried about money and what’s going to happen to your life because of your divorce.

The reason that you hear lots of different opinions and ‘horror stories’ is because sorting out property and money on divorce (‘matrimonial finances’) is based on the objective principle of ‘fairness’.

Estate Administration and the Trust Registration Service. Following the introduction of the Trust Registration Service (TRS), HMRC now require some estates to be registered on the TRS.
The registration of an estate is mandatory if certain circumstances apply. Failure to register an estate could result in large penalties.

What is a Lasting Power of Attorney and why is it recommended to have one? A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document which allows you (the Donor) to choose a person or persons that you trust to make certain decisions on your behalf. 

Discrimination cases are rarely straightforward because these days it is unlikely that employers openly treat people differently because of a ‘protected characteristic’. These are for example, age, race, disability, religion or religious belief, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity or sexual orientation.  The Equality Act 2010 is designed to prevent employees from being treated unequally and applies to all areas of employment including recruitment, selection and promotion, the provision of training, benefits, retirement, and occupational pensions.  Discrimination in the workplace can arise in any of four ways:

This is a live issue particularly these days as no-fault divorce has been introduced to lower the temperature between couples who just want to move on without acrimony.

We see a lot of partners who come to see us about buying a house together after, perhaps, previous divorces of their own or simply marrying later in life, both scenarios becoming more and more common. In these circumstances, the couple are likely to have assets of their own that they want to use to contribute towards a purchase of a home together.

If you are thinking of disputing a Will, you should first seek further information from the solicitor or will writer who prepared it.
So long ago as 1979, the Court of Appeal decided that “….to avoid costly litigation….and where there are circumstances of suspicion attending the execution and making of the will, one of the measures which can be taken is to give full and frank information to those who might have an interest in attacking the will as to how the will came to be made.”

Advances in the technology of home security equipment and the quality, scope and range, particularly of audio, have encouraged many people to invest in such devices.  However, are you breaking the law?  If the camera records the goings-on confined or restricted to your own property, then it is unlikely the data protection regime will affect you.  If the camera records a wider view of neighbouring property or those further afield, what are the rights of those affected?

If you have made a Will that benefits your spouse, and you later separate from that spouse, the Will is not invalidated by the separation and any provision you have made for your spouse would usually still apply. Similarly, if you make Mirror Wills with your spouse, you each have an individual Will, and these are not invalidated if you separate from each other.