HCC is celebrating the success of the Brain Injury Group - of which it is a member - that won an award for innovation and inspiration last Thursday November 10. The United Kingdom Acquired Brain Injury Forum (UKABIF) Awards are held annually and this year the co-founder of the Brain Injury Group, catastrophic injury solicitor Francis Lacy Scott, gained recognition for this innovative group by being named the UKABIF Lawyer of the Year.
The proposals were formulated by the Law Commission in July 2007 after a two year consultation. It had been clear for some years that the existing law, which was not designed for cohabitants, was uncertain and difficult to apply in these circumstances. The Law Commission also felt it led to unjust results, although opinion on that point is deeply divided: many consider that those who choose not to marry or enter into civil partnerships should not be treated in law as though they had done so.
Having your Will written professionally can give you great peace of mind. Using a local solicitor who has signed up to Will Aid you can enjoy the added feel-good factor of supporting nine leading UK charities. Instead of paying the solicitor’s fee, you will be invited to make a donation to charity. Suggested minimum donation is £85 for a basic Will, £125 for a pair of basic mirror Wills and £40 for a codicil.
Disputes can be readily avoided by taking the simple measure of recording whether or not wills are intended to be mutual wills.
The Doctrine applies where two testators make wills (usually in identical terms) containing reciprocal provisions as to the distribution of their estates and agree that they will not revoke their wills. On the death of the first testator the survivor then holds the property on trust for the beneficiaries to whom it was agreed it should be left.
The Legal Services Board - the independant body overseeing the regulation of lawyers in England and Wales - is announcing the start of a statutory investigation into how best to protect consumers in the will-writing, probate and estate administration markets.
Following a recent case where a man who had split up with his co-habiting partner 17 years ago, and was awarded a half share in the house they once lived in, even though he had never paid the mortgage.
Clients who want to make a Will should be encouraged to sign a lasting power of attorney at the same time, according to the Ministry of Justice.
Junior justice minister Bridget Prentice is concerned that only 100,000 LPAs have been registered so far. In an interview on the BBCs Today radio programme, she said that increasing life expectancy means that every person in Britain should have an LPA in place, ready to be used when necessary.
The material was collected from members of the society's Probate Section. Members submitted tales of shoddy wills that leave the deceased's estates wholly or partially intestate, or which include poor tax planning. One submission described a will-writing company being wound up and disappearing with all their clients' will documents. Some firms advertised low-cost wills but later presented a much larger bill, typically padded by storage fees.
Lord Hunt states "most of our fellow citizens would surely be taken aback to learn that anyone can currently set himself or herself up as a will-writer and also that some aspects of probate activity can take place outside the regulatory net"
Flexible Working
The right to request flexible working under the statutory flexible working regime is now extended to employees with children under the age of 17.
SMP
Statutory Maternity Pay, paternity pay and adoption pay increases to £123.06 (from £117.18) per week and statutory sick pay increases to £79.15 (from £75.40) per week.
Annual Holidays
The statutory minimum annual holiday entitlement increases from 24 to 28 days for a full-time employee (inclusive of public holidays).
The four one-hour episodes of “The Barristers” aim to give viewers an insight into the life and work of advocates in criminal, family and other branches of civil law, and into the BVC and pupillages.
The series is co-produced by the Open University. Gary Slapper, Open University professor of law and academic adviser to the series, said: “People are aware of the Bar, but their knowledge is based on fiction – what goes on in courts and how barristers work are still largely a mystery.
The case involved a collision with a horse at a riding school and the defendant instructed loss adjusters to defend the claim. The loss adjusters carried out investigations, obtained witness statements and, in the judge's words, "all types of work which would normally be carried out by solicitors in the context of this type of litigation".
An increase in the national minimum wage from £5.52 to £5.73 an hour for adult workers has come into force.
Employees do not need to explain to their employers what was the ‘last straw’ that made them resign to rely on constructive dismissal.
In Thornton Print v Morton (UKEAT/0900/08/JOJ), the EAT upheld the original tribunal’s finding that Morton did not have to refer to the ‘last straw’ in his grievance letter because it was merely the occasion that led him to accept an earlier repudiatory breach which had not been waived.
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