Law Blog Archives | Sills & Betteridge Solicitors

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.

Insufficient Disclosure Negates Challenge to Enquiry

It is generally considered that if HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) raise no enquiries in relation to a tax return in the year following its submission, that is the end of the matter. However, as a recent tax dispute shows, where HMRC make a 'discovery', that is not the case.

Have You Been Given Free Advice That Was Wrong?

26 Apr 2016
Law Blog

Just because you haven't paid for professional advice doesn't mean that the person who gave it to you is relieved from liability if it was negligently given. A recent case should serve as a warning to anyone with professional skills who offers free advice to friends and others.