Physical and sexual abuse within marriages and other intimate relationships is by its nature often hard to prove. However, with the assistance of specialist family lawyers, a woman succeeded in establishing that her husband had for years subjected her to a relentless campaign of rape
Engaging solicitors to both draft your will and store it safely until it is needed really is the only sensible course to take. In a case where such wisdom did not prevail, the High Court had to decide whether a missing will had been deliberately
Those who enter into contracts to acquire property without having adequate finance in place beforehand do so at considerable risk. In a High Court case on point, a property developer forfeited its six-figure deposit after failing to complete the £2,225,000 purchase of an office block
Fortunes spent on establishing successful brands would be largely pointless without trade mark protection and, as a High Court case showed, that is why professional advice from an intellectual property expert represents a sound investment. The case concerned a company that provided psychiatry and mental
Bankruptcy orders are discretionary and judges will not make them if they serve no useful purpose. The High Court made that point in overturning one such order that had been issued against an all but penniless woman – on the basis that she was simply
As relationships and working arrangements change, self-employment can morph into an employment relationship over time. Exactly that happened in the case of a live-in agency carer who worked 12 hours a day for the same client for over three years. The agency for which the
Judicial separations, which recognise the breakdown of marriages without formally bringing them to an end, are nowadays relatively rare. However, as the High Court made clear in a ‘big money’ case, they should never be confused with divorce. A former couple aged in their 70s
In an increasingly health-conscious world, eating habits have changed dramatically and the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) took that into account in ruling that an egg-, dairy- and gluten-free brownie should be classified as a cake for VAT purposes. The ruling entitled the product’s manufacturer to a
Official decision making is frequently imperfect, but judges will only intervene if errors made have a real impact on the final outcome. In a case exactly on point, the High Court upheld planning permission for a major regeneration project despite having identified a mistake in
Non-solicitation and non-compete covenants in employment contracts impinge on workers’ personal freedoms and, as a High Court case showed, examples that are unclear or too broad in their effect are highly likely to be declared unenforceable. That is one very good reason why professional drafting
