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Under Section 71(3) of the Solicitors Act 1974 , where a trustee, executor or administrator is liable to pay a solicitor's bill, any person with an interest in the property out of which it may be paid can apply to the court for an assessment of it. A High...

A woman has succeeded in obtaining the right to continue living in an annexe next to her son's house. The annexe was situated on a farm the woman owned and had originally been a stable block. When planning permission to convert it into an annexe was granted...

The Family Court has ruled in financial remedy proceedings that a departure from an equal division of assets was appropriate in view of the fact that riskier and less liquid business assets would be retained by the husband. The husband and wife had met in...

The Court of Appeal has ruled that a mixed-use premises was a 'dwelling' , as defined in Section 38 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 , and the tenants therefore benefited from the controls over the levying of service charges in the Act. The tenants...

The High Court has ruled that a will made by a man who was suffering from delusions caused by late-onset schizophrenia was invalid for want of testamentary capacity. In late 2013, the man had become concerned that someone was trying to break into his home...

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) provides guidance for the public on data protection and information rights on its website. Guidance is available on the following topics: making a Subject Access Request to find out if an organisation is...

When disagreements arise between neighbours about the ownership of land, it is invariably best to try to reach an amicable solution rather than engage in litigation. In an unusual case concerning the ownership of a driveway , the Upper Tribunal (UT)...

In a recent ruling on a wife's application for a financial remedy order , the Family Court accepted that her caring responsibilities for the couple's son justified a departure from the sharing principle. The Court handed down its judgment as an indication...

The law affords testators a high degree of freedom to pass on their estates to whomever they wish, and the fact that the terms of a will may seem unfair to relatives is not enough to successfully challenge it. This point was illustrated by a recent case in...

The courts are alert to the risk of divorcing couples being less than honest about their assets and liabilities in financial remedy proceedings. Recently, the Family Court rejected a husband's assertion that he owed £1.6 million to a company owned by...