News and Blogs

To all our valued clients and contacts

We are delighted to say that our offices are open to visitors by appointment and we are looking forward to welcoming you back. Our priority is to do all we can to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of our staff, clients and contacts, and to continue to serve our clients with the minimum of disruption to our levels of service. We are taking care...

The Government has officially announced that the temporary suspension on most possession proceedings introduced earlier this year will be extended up to at least 23 August 2020.

This comes shortly after the case of Marshall (Arkin) v Marshall & Another, where the Court of Appeal confirmed the suspension on proceedings was lawful. The Court also concluded that, although judges retain the...

When someone purchases a property as a new main residence but does not sell their existing main residence, the surcharged rate of duty has to be paid on the purchase price.

There is a claw back rule. You can apply for a refund of the supplemental amount paid for the higher rate of SDLT for additional properties if you sell what was previously your main home. The proviso is that you must sell...

It has been announced that no-fault divorce is to finally become law after years of campaigning. The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill cleared its final stages of parliamentary analysis in the House of Commons yesterday (17 June 2020).

The victory follows the Bill’s hasty passage through the House of Commons, where the second reading was heard only last week (8 June 2020). It has...

In addition to the various government schemes to protect existing businesses, employees and the self-employed during the coronavirus pandemic, the government has created a new loan scheme to support new ventures: the Future Fund. The Future Fund allows start-ups reliant on equity investment to obtain funding that they may not be able to achieve via a convertible loan from the government.

Who...

You will not be alone if you are struggling to pay maintenance at the moment. Unemployment in the UK has rocketed with many more furloughed. Under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which has been extended until the end of October 2020, the government will pay 80% of wages up to a ceiling of £2,500 gross per month.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is a lifeline for many, but if...

Families and couples will be all too aware that we are now entering an unprecedented 12^th week in lockdown. As the mandatory self-quarantine measures introduced in March have forced couples to spend more time together, some have relished in this opportunity. Sadly, for others it has exacerbated existing marital problems. Incidents of domestic abuse have also intensified.

Given the apparent...

We have written previously about reforms to the existing 50-year-old divorce laws in England and Wales and how a new bill, the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill had reached its second reading stage in the Commons and had cross-party support. The Bill is now set for its second reading today (8 June 2020) in the Commons. It is understood that ministers are eager to see that the...

In a further effort to assist businesses and individuals to ‘weather the storm’ of coronavirus, the government has extended the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) to allow applicants to obtain a second grant in respect of a further three months of profits.

What is the Scheme?

The Scheme, generally seen as the self-employed equivalent to the Coronavirus Job Retention...

Pension sharing orders have been in existence now for well nigh 20 years since their introduction on 1 December 2000. The aim was, as the name suggests, that pensions could be split or shared going forwards, to create fairness between spouses and civil partners on divorce or dissolution. This was done by allowing the family court to direct a transfer equal in value to a proportion of the...