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When it comes to divorce, it is very common for one spouse to argue that he or she should receive the lion's share of the marital wealth. However, as a guideline case concerning an entrepreneurial couple showed, fairness usually demands that an equal contribution to a marriage is reflected in an equal division of assets. In the early days of their 15-year marriage, the wife acted as primary carer for their two children whilst the husband was the main breadwinner. Both were, however, impressive financial performers and their marital assets...

Apparently trifling neighbours' disputes over a few inches of land have a nasty habit of taking on the proportions of a state trial, with legal costs to match. That was sadly so in a case concerning the positioning of a fence between two suburban gardens. A couple were good friends with their neighbour before falling out with her after she erected a fence which they claimed encroached onto their land by a maximum of nine inches. After they launched proceedings against her, both sides presented evidence from property experts. Ruling on...

The intense vulnerability of many negligence victims requires lawyers to take careful steps to protect them from exploitation by others and the consequences of their own poor decision-making. A case on point concerned a recipient of a seven-figure compensation award who was prey to a gambling addiction. Medical staff decided to induce labour after the woman's child tragically died in utero at about 33 weeks' gestation. A high dose of a labour-inducing drug led to catastrophic uterine rupture and cardiac arrest. It was a truly life-threatening event and she had...

It makes perfect sense that the market value of shares given to charity is deductible from the donor's tax liabilities. However, as an important tax tribunal ruling showed, discerning exactly what that value is can be very far from straightforward. The case concerned five taxpayers who donated shares in a company listed on the Alternative Investment Market to various charities. They argued that the shares were each worth between 32.5p and 40p when gifted. Based on those values, they claimed tax relief under Section 587B of the Income and Corporation...