The standard wording trotted out by advisers and CAFCASS officers is “Do not forget that you are still parents, even though you are getting divorced’. Sounds good. The truth is quite different. Femai http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html reminds us divorce always harms children. Children want things to go back to the way they were. Arrangements can be put in place which appear attractive even generous, and children loved being spoilt, but that is not what they really want. They want Mummy and Daddy to get back together again. It is against that background that all solutions must be faced. Acrimony, violence and…
The Financial Times (www.ft.com) highlights the bank executives in Germany facing criminal charges over the reckless purchase of asset backed securities. Calls for new laws against bankers are unnecessary. The laws are in place now. Stripping Fred Goodwin of his knighthood was spiteful. The correct response is to examine whether he should face criminal charges. If he does, even a top experienced criminal lawyer may not save him. We would be interested in your comments, please leave them by clicking on the title to this blog above
Early night the night before. Half a sleeping pill. Cooked breakfast and get there in plenty of time, smartly dressed. Have some Smints in your pocket. All the above is not a drill or a joke ! Make sure you know the address, and leave with plenty of time. Few Courts have parking. You do not want to arrive late and in a flap. There is tight security. If you are running late get a message to the Court office, or your opponent’s lawyer. Bring a snack for mid morning because there is a lot of waiting around and bring…
Directors of companies have an absolute duty to shareholders to reduce the company’s tax bill legitimately. Morals do not come into it. If they fail, they can be sued. So all this talk of “aggressive” tax avoidance makes good copy, but directors are obliged with their advisers to explore all legitimate routes. It may be that the current climate would result in advice that such schemes should be avoided as the gain not being worth the candle, but that was not the situation at the time when many people entered these schemes. HMRC believes that the “Liberty” tax avoidance scheme…
An excellent article in the Solicitors’ Journal on 5 August by John Marsden (solicitorsjournal.com) highlights the common situation of people clicking the “I accept” button, which people do constantly without reading the terms and conditions that they are agreeing to. UK contract law is based on offer and acceptance and “I accept” on the face of it means just that – Bassano –v- Toft (2014) EWHC 377(QB). One problem of course is who is actually clicking the button. The person or company making the offer with conditions receives an electronic message having somebody clicking the “I accept” button but who…
The proposal that HMRC can take cash from taxpayers’ bank accounts without a Court Order, reverses the usual burden of proof. The real problem, however, is the huge number of errors made especially in Tax Credit assessments. An excellent article by Tim Shipman in the Sunday Times on 3 August (thesundaytimes.co.uk) highlights the problem. Also the criminal aspect should not be ignored. When it is found that HMRC have received a substantial underpayment, criminal sanctions can apply, and the very money that the taxpayer might need to pay for defence, or a fine, to avoid a harsher penalty, has been…
An excellent article by District Judge Nigel Law in the Solicitors journal (www.solicitorsjournal.com) focuses on a real problem. To get legal aid in children cases, very often the parent has to prove that he or she has been harassed or assaulted by getting a Non-Molestation Order. In the days of social media a lot of the harassment is on text, or Facebook and this has to be converted into hard copy which can easily be done by being downloaded on to a PC. Be careful not to lose your mobile phone. These without notice ex-parte injunctions are dealt with very…
No doubt some Russian oligarchs are criminals and restricting their travel and seizing their assets is a proportionate response, but merely being connected to Putin is not. Where will it end? Just because a Russian oligarch has been bareback riding with Putin, does not make him a rogue. The legality of these sanctions is open to serious doubt anyway and I hope that a “good” oligarch with nothing to hide, applies to the UK court to have them lifted because I think the government will lose. An excellent article by Jonathan Ames (the times.co.uk) is well worth reading. Many lawyers…
The experience of Edward Heaton (thetimes.co.uk 29 July 2014) in being stuck with a minimum charge at a West End hotel, is widespread. The hotel’s response is that guests are made aware of the policy on arrival and rates are printed on the menus. Mr Heaton says he knew nothing about the minimum charge. To be binding of such a clause has to be drawn to the attention of the customer in a clear way, not just some small print on a menu. Hopefully the appalling publicity which has been heaped on the Wellesley Hotel, will get them to mend…
The way that Wonga and the leading clearing banks have demand letters sent out is summarised in an excellent article in the Law Society Gazette on 7 July by Elle McDonald What does not emerge is that there was no compulsion whatsoever to go to the trouble and expense of instructing a solicitor for such demands. On the contrary some of the “factory” operations that churn out these obviously mass produced demands, just get ignored or put “under the clock” by the debtor. It is not who writes the letter, but what it says. A simple demand to pay in…
