Law Blog Archives | Sills & Betteridge Solicitors

Children's Voices Matter in Care Cases - But Are Not Always Decisive

17 May 2016
Law Blog

The voices of children will always be heard by family judges in care proceedings, but they are not always decisive and can be outweighed by other factors. In one case, a boy's vociferous wish to live in England with his mother was overruled by a judge who found that his best interests lay in returning to Ireland to live with his paternal family.

Equity Release Dangers Exposed

12 May 2016
Law Blog

Financial products which offer to release capital tied up in people's homes can be extremely complex and such arrangements should only ever be entered into after receiving specialist advice. In one case which strikingly makes this point, two elderly ladies ended up with a mountain of debt and under threat of eviction after signing a deal which they hoped would enable them to stay in their home at an affordable rent.

Are Your Children Your Tenants? - Sign a Lease

11 May 2016
Law Blog

Parents often let their children live in properties they own on an informal basis. However, one Court of Appeal case stands as a stern warning that the absence of a tenancy agreement can make them liable for any misbehaviour by their offspring.

Making a Will? Take Legal Advice to Avoid Family Conflict

In a case which underlines the reasons why you should always get a solicitor to help you make your will, the opinion of an experienced lawyer as to the mental capacity of an elderly dementia sufferer who sought his advice was the decisive factor in establishing that she knew her own mind.

Seventeen-Year Battle Over Assets Proves Ruinous

6 May 2016
Law Blog

Divorces are very seldom totally amicable, but letting squabbles over the terms under which a marriage is dissolved run on and on can be ruinous, as a recent case shows. It involved a once successful businessman who was said to have been left with less than £5 in his bank account following 17 years of squabbling over money with his ex-wife.

Tenant Lives to Fight Again as Court Upholds Without Prejudice Plea

When a tenant admitted in discussions with her landlord's lawyers that she had been in arrears with the lease payments on her restaurant, the admissions were used to justify a claim for forfeiture of the lease by her landlord. However, she claimed that the discussions were 'without prejudice' and could not therefore be used in court proceedings by the landlord. Without prejudice disclosures are legally 'privileged' and cannot normally be required to be disclosed in formal legal proceedings.