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Resorting to skulduggery in divorce proceedings is sadly common but almost never does either side any good. That was certainly so in one case in which a man surreptitiously took documents from his ex-wife's home and sought – unsuccessfully – to rely on them in court. During their five-year marriage, the couple had lived largely on income from a family trust of which the wife was a beneficiary. After their divorce, it was agreed between them that the husband would receive a total of £68,000 and a car, in full...

Problems with covenants affecting land are common and sometimes a dispute can resurface years after it seems to have been settled. In a recent instance, a landowner was successful in reopening the battle over a covenant after persuading the court it was not simply a rerun of an old court case. The property was subject to covenants dating from 1954, which included one binding on the purchaser 'not to erect on the piece of land hereby conveyed any buildings whatsoever other than one private dwelling house with proper offices and...

Just how tough HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) can be was illustrated by a recent case in which they imposed a penalty of £1,300 for the late filing of a tax return by a businesswoman who, as well as running her own business, was also caring for her two terminally ill parents for four years. Her father suffered from cancer at the time and her mother had had a series of strokes. Both died within months of one another during the tax year in question, following which the daughter...

Unfulfilled hopes of substantial inheritance are commonplace, both in fact and fiction, but not often do they lead to such ham-fisted attempts at forgery as that shown by a disappointed widow after her husband left her just £25,000 of his £600,000 estate. The woman was 50 years younger than her husband, who died aged 76, and their marriage had been a cause of consternation to his family. By a properly executed will, drafted by a solicitor, he left £430,000 of his estate to his only child by a previous marriage,...