When a couple decides to get a divorce, it can be a very emotionally trying time in both of their lives. There are many considerations to think about during this time. Many decisions that will be made will have long term and far reaching effects. This makes it absolutely imperative that careful thought goes into these decisions. In order to protect one’s interests, it is vital that the services of a solicitor are secured. Divorce is one of the many areas in which the law firm of Irwin Mitchell specialises. With offices throughout the United Kingdom, it makes it much easier to secure their services.
Typically, most couples might try a trial separation or undergo counseling before making the ultimate decision to divorce. Many wonder exactly at what point in this journey they need a lawyer. Irwin Mitchell recommends that once the decision is made to obtain a divorce, a lawyer needs to be consulted. In some situations the lawyers at Irwin Mitchell will just serve in a consultative role. However, depending upon the situation, the lawyers may advise that you will need further legal assistance. Divorce can be a convoluted legal process. Irwin Mitchell has the experience and knowledge to guide clients through the process. Irwin Mitchell will look out for your rights and help you obtain the best possible settlement. The solicitors at Irwin Mitchell will protect your rights at a time when you’re often emotionally confused to see things clearly.
Irwin Mitchell can also help clients through a process known as collaborative divorce. With the guidance of a solicitor for both parties, the divorcing couple is able to avoid going to court which can further add to the divorce expenses. With this process, the couples and their lawyers go through several meetings trying to reach an agreement. Irwin Mitchell is well versed in this process and will do what it can to help their client avoid going to court.
If you want to know more information about Irwin Mitchell, or their personal injury London services, then visit www.irwinmitchell.com.
Tags: Divorce, Irwin Mitchell, personal injury
Posted December 21st, 2011 in Divorce |
Importance of maintaining company records
Small businesses face a near impossible task at times balancing the necessity to ensure revenues exceed overheads and in dealing with business red tape. It can be very difficult to assess priorities in terms of what is essential compliance wise. Often, corporate filings and company records can inadvertently slip down the list of “to do’s”, but it is important, and doesn’t take any appreciable time, to at least keep the register of shareholders up-to-date. There can be significant and unforeseen consequences of failing to do so, if there is a change and the new shareholders details are not promptly recorded.
The implications of failing to properly record a change in shareholdings can include :-
- notices of meetings may be invalid
- Decisions made at shareholder meetings may not be valid and legal
These are clearly important parts of running a limited company, so it pays to ensure company records are kept up-to-date and thankfully, this is not a particularly time consuming task.
Tags: company law, shareholders, solicitors east london
Posted June 27th, 2011 in Uncategorized |
Start up survey on PAYE
A study by software company Intuit of some 50 start up businesses indicates that PAYE is a major consideration for them and tax return paperwork also causes major issues. A few quick facts to come out of the survey :-
- 2/3rds stated that PAYE is a major issue in taking on staff
- Nearly ½ were unaware of the requirement for filing statutory PAYE end of year returns.
- ¼ fully expect to be late in submitting the PAYE return
Tags: law, legal, small business, start ups
Posted May 22nd, 2011 in Uncategorized |
House sharing becoming more common
House sharing arrangements are becoming increasingly common according to research from easyroommate.com. Headline data from that research is worth noting :-
- Number of couples willing to share with others has almost doubled in the last year.
- Some 11% of house sharing is with a couple and others.
- Renting a room in a property shared with housemates costs couples an average of £426 a month, compared with £687 to rent a house or flat on their own.
- Economic conditions and lack of affordability for first time buyers are creating this niche market
In general legal terms, house sharing arrangements are no different from other residential occupancy situations. It is always worth bearing in mind, as a prospective landlord, the old adage that 2possession is 9/10 of the law”. Once you let someone into your property, it can be very difficult, lengthy and expensive to remove them, even if they stop paying rent or commit other breaches. This is an area where taking legal advice and undertaking as many practical checks is vital before taking in a lodger. It is definitely worth considering a bespoke house sharing contract also.
Posted May 20th, 2011 in Uncategorized |
When a family is being housed, the provision of separate, self-cont
ained flats with no common living areas does not mean that accommodation had been made available such that the members of the applicant’s family could ‘reside together’ in the ordinary meaning of the phrase.
Posted May 19th, 2011 in General |
Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd., which became the first company to be convicted of corporate manslaughter (under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007) in February of this year, has lost an appeal against its conviction.
The company was convicted following the 2008 death of geologist, Alexander Wright, 27, who died when a trench he was working in collapsed.
Posted May 19th, 2011 in General |
Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), which was sold aggressively by many of the clearing banks during the debt boom
of the 1980s and 1990s, has led to large provisions being made for losses as the banks have abandoned attempts to fight mis-selling claims.
Thousands of customers w ere sold PPI policies, which undertook to cover loan repayments on lo an in the event that the borrower became unemployed or fell ill and was unable to make the repayments. The policies were extremely profitable for the banks because the claim rates were very low and the policy costs were high.
However, following widespread complaints and successful litigation, the banks have abandoned their struggle and have earmarked more than £5 billion to meet claims.
Tags: claims, lawyers, litigation
Posted May 19th, 2011 in Civil Litigation, General |
There has, since its inception, been a great deal of confusion regarding the ‘double Inheritance Tax (IHT) nil rate band’ legislation – whereby the unused proportion of the IHT nil rate band of the first of a couple to die is passed to the second: this is termed the ‘transferable nil rate band’ (TRNB).
One of the problems stems from those cases in which the estate of the first deceased merely passed across to their spouse and the formal documentation relating to the estate was either not prepared or not retained.
HM Revenue and Customs have attempted to make the use of the TRNB simpler by issuing a new code of practice which allows an estate making use of a transferred TRNB to be an ‘excepted estate’ provided certain conditions are met.
In practice, this will simplify the administration of many estates. However, there are still conditions which may cause difficulties for many people, such as the conditions that the first deceased must have:
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been domiciled for IHT purposes in the UK at the date of death; and
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not have owned foreign assets (i.e. a holiday home) worth more than £100,000 at the date of death.
The guidance can be found at
Posted May 13th, 2011 in General |
Obeying the law – no longer necessary ?
It seems that the average person in the UK now consider it generally ok to break the law on a wide array of minor legal infringements. When we say, minor, the consequences, unintended, can be severe, especially in terms of traffic accidents. However, our perception is that minor infringements are not important. Is this a worrying sign ? In statistical terms, based on a survey of 3,000 adults :-
- The average Brit breaks the law around 21 times a year
- Speeding, eating or drinking while driving and not wearing a seat belt are the most common breaches.
- Other common legal breaches are downloading music illegally, texting or chatting while driving, and cycling without lights.
Tags: advice, law, legal
Posted May 13th, 2011 in Uncategorized |
Not many prosecutions are brought under the Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, which are designed to protect consumers form the activities of unscrupulous traders.
Recently several companies were taken to court by the Office of Fair Trading for breaches of the regulations.
One of the companies offered invitations to claim ‘prizes’ by sending unsolicited letters to people. The ‘prizes’ which were the subject of the prosecution were either an LCD TV (allocated to less than 1 per cent of the applicants) or a ‘Zurich watch’ which was allocated to more than 99 per cent of the respondents. The Zurich watch actually contained a movement made in Japan.
To obtain the prize, it was necessary to obtain a ‘prize code’. This was done by the ‘prize’ recipient telephoning a premium-rate number – which cost £8.95. They then had to send a further £8.50 because the watch was an ‘electrical item’. The total cost to the consumer was therefore £17.45 and the supplier made a profit of approximately £7 on each ‘prize’.
The court concluded that there was in reality, no prize: the claimant had bought the watch.
In each case, the OFT found that the Regulations had been breached and that the ‘prize’ element of the promotion was a sham.
There are many unscrupulous traders in the market and promotions that offer ‘free prizes’ are seldom genuine. There are also examples of companies that target vulnerable people (i.e. the recently bereaved).
If something looks too good to be true, it is almost certainly because it is. Do not commit yourself without thinking through your options.
Tags: consumer law, legal, rights
Posted May 12th, 2011 in General |