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Farming families appear regularly in the courts these days, as more and more cases arise that feature undocumented promises that have been made (or are alleged to have been made) by parents but not kept. The law will only enforce such informal arrangements when it can be shown that someone acted to their own detriment in a way they would not have done had the promise not been made. This is called 'promissory estoppel' in legal terminology. Such claims can be very difficult to substantiate. In the latest such case, the...

Following the Grenfell disaster in 2017, cladding has come under close scrutiny with surveys being carried out as a priority in buildings across the UK. The failure to comply with Building Regulations (Part L1A 2010), which provides a framework for ensuring that no overheating issues are created as a result of works undertaken, is clearly quite widespread and the need for remedial action in such cases is clear. However, the question that has arisen with regard to the rectification of such defects is whose responsibility it is to meet the...

Relationships that start on the Internet are already leading to some interesting situations. A recent family case involved a British woman who had met a Pakistani man online and married him in the USA, where the couple had two children. Her husband had been taken to the USA as a child, and is strictly an illegal immigrant, although he does not face deportation because as a child immigrant he has 'deferred action' status. However, were he to leave the USA, his readmission would be unlikely. His wife had irregularities associated...

Taxpayers are personally responsible for filing their tax returns on time, and failing to do so can lead to stiff financial penalties. However, in one case, the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) ruled that a self-employed website developer whose accountants lost all of his data following a computer hacking incident had a reasonable excuse for missing the deadline. The man had incurred penalties totalling £3,200 for failing to file two tax returns on time. He had ceased trading as a self-employed person and had no idea that the penalties had been imposed...