LATEST NEWS

Pre- and post-nuptial agreements that do not fairly meet the reasonable needs of one divorcing party or the other are unlikely to be worth the paper they are written on. The High Court made that point in refusing to hold a wife to the disadvantageous terms of one such agreement. The couple's tempestuous marriage lasted about eight years and was characterised by periods of separation followed by attempts at reconciliation. During one such attempt, they signed a post-nuptial agreement (PNA) whereby the husband agreed, amongst other things, to pay the...

Failing to make a professionally drafted will positively invites disputes between your loved ones that can take on the proportions of an ancient Greek tragedy. As a High Court case showed, such discord can even extend to the disposal of your body. The case concerned a father of six who died suddenly in England at the age of 45 without making a will. He left a partner who was then pregnant with their third child and who also cared for another child of his. His two other children, including his...

When lending money to friends, acquaintances or anyone else, the terms on which sums are advanced may be entirely clear to you in your own mind. However, as a High Court ruling showed, the absence of a professionally drafted loan agreement is a positive invitation to subsequent dispute. The case concerned a couple who agreed to advance £50,000 in order to assist friends whose business was encountering financial difficulties. When the friends failed to repay the money, the couple issued a statutory demand against them. The friends, however, argued that...

There is nothing wrong with an employee being paid in a tax-efficient manner. As an Employment Tribunal (ET) ruling showed, however, where such arrangements stray into the realms of unlawful evasion the consequences are likely to be severe. The case concerned a commercial director whose bonuses and profit-related pay were in part remitted not to him but to his wife. Following his resignation, he lodged ET proceedings against the company for which he worked, asserting unfair constructive dismissal and unlawful deductions from his wages. Ruling on a preliminary issue in the...