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Loving parents often allow their adult children to remain living in the family home for as long as they wish, in the expectation that they will, in due course, fly the nest. In a case that will ring a bell with thousands of families, the High Court considered the legal consequences of such commonplace arrangements. An elderly widow wished to sell her home and downsize. Her middle-aged son and daughter-in-law had, for many years, also occupied part of the house and had no desire to leave. The widow, who was...

Parents have a right to name their children and, in modern Britain, the options open to them are almost limitless. However, as a High Court ruling showed, there are rare occasions when a parental choice of forename may conflict with a child's welfare. The case concerned a deeply troubled mother whose son was placed in interim care soon after his birth. In the first few days of his life, the mother called him by a name commonly associated with boys. However, when she registered his birth, she gave him a...

Where one person unlawfully kills another, the killer usually forfeits their right to inherit any part of the victim's property. As a High Court ruling in an exceptionally sad case showed, however, that general rule may be tempered by compassion in cases involving so-called 'mercy killing' or assisted suicide. Prior to the death of a woman who was suffering from lung cancer, she made a will leaving the whole of her estate to her husband. He subsequently took his own life after instructing a funeral director that his public death...

If you have been mis-sold a financial product, any delay in seeking legal advice may jeopardise your right to compensation – but what if facts on which you might found your case have been deliberately concealed from you? The Supreme Court answered that question in a case of crucial importance to consumer rights. A woman borrowed £20,787 from a bank. Of that sum, £3,834 related to a payment protection insurance (PPI) policy which the bank arranged on her behalf. Unbeknown to her, over 95 per cent of the latter sum...