Legal-Zone

TUPE and the Transfer Of Undertakings

TUPE is shorthand for the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006. What this act does is protect employee's rights when the business they work for is sold or transferred to a new owner. Employees of the business when the firm ... Read >

Paternity and Paternity Testing

What is the procedure and how can the courts help when there is a question over who is the father of a child. Often a father will want to know for certain but a mother may also need to know the father for certain following an indiscretion, one night stand... Read >

Accidents Caused by Children

If you are a parent with parental responsibility and your child causes an accident or damages someone's property you may well feel moral responsibility. But will you also have legal responsibility? In most cases the answer will be no. As with just abou... Read >

Child Support and Liability Orders

Few people would believe that it is possible under our system of justice in the UK for someone to say that you owe a sum of money, and then without any right of challenge for a court order to be made ordering that it be paid. No trial is allowed, you cann... Read >

Security for Costs

What do you do if you are served with a claim which is total nonsense? Or you issue proceedings against someone and they file a spurious counterclaim which cannot possibly be maintained. You have to deal with it and put in a defence which will cost you mo... Read >

Protective Costs Orders in the UK Courts

A Protective Costs Order is an Order made by a court that the Party granted the Order will not be liable for the other party's costs if they lose, or sometimes just not liable for a proportion of the costs or possibly a capped amount. If successful howeve... Read >

Without Prejudice. What Does it Really Mean?

What is meant by 'without' prejudice' when it is put on the top of a letter. Many people think they know that very well. They will say that the correspondence cannot be used or brought to the attention of the court should the matter go to trial. They woul... Read >

Appeals against Final Matrimonial Orders

What happens when an asset awarded to one of the parties in a divorce settlement suddenly and unexpectedly loses its value? In these turbulent financial times this can happen and the result may well be that the order will no longer makes proper financial ... Read >

Delay in Bringing Inheritance Act Applications

If a will (or intestacy) does not make 'reasonable financial provision' for a spouse, partner, child, or other dependent it is open to them to apply to the court under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. A Judge will then cons... Read >

Mediation, Expert Determination, and ADR

Mediation is promoted as the way to resolve many disputes. It is flavour of the day and will usually be suggested by the courts as an alternative to litigation. Those that refuse to co-operate could well end up being penalised in costs by the court. Altho... Read >

When do you Show Your Hand in Divorce Proceeding

Proceedings in the Family Court are very different from civil proceedings even though both are dealt with in a County Court. In civil proceedings the court requires a - cards on the table - approach from the start and will then make a finding based on the... Read >

Domestic Violence and the Local Authority

Consider the position of a woman who is being subjected to domestic violence. Very often she will not be able to obtain legal aid to instruct a solicitor to act for her and she may feel too vulnerable to go to the court herself for a non-molestation injun... Read >

Bankruptcy and Divorce

When a marriage breaks down it is often at a time of financial difficulty. One of the spouses could well be faced with bankruptcy. The question will then arise as to what will be the effect of a bankruptcy order on the financial settlement and division of... Read >

When does Child Maintenance End?

The case of Re N (A Child) recently came to an end-possibly. This case had been backwards and forwards to court since 2005. It contains a number of lessons to be learnt-not least and which is not the subject of this article-the advantages of parents sorti... Read >

False Claims and the Dishonest Litigant

The adversarial legal system in the UK encourages litigants to pursue their case as forcefully as they can. A consequence of this however can be that one party to the litigation overstepping the mark and resorting to dishonest means. This could be by fabr... Read >