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The Upper Tribunal (UT) has rejected a landowner's appeal against the dismissal of his application for the determination of a boundary between a strip of land he owned and the garden of a neighbouring house. He had originally owned a large house with...
A taxpayer who had completed her tax return but had not taken the final step of submitting it has successfully appealed against late filing penalties totalling £1,600 after the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) ruled that she had a reasonable excuse for...
The Family Division of the High Court has refused a mother's application for an order that her three children should be returned from England to Lithuania . The mother and father were both Lithuanian nationals who had met and begun a relationship in the...
The Law Commission has published a report, Modernising Wills Law, containing its recommendations to reform the law governing wills. The recommendations are aimed at supporting testamentary freedom, protecting testators, and increasing clarity and certainty...
The Upper Tribunal (UT) has ruled that a restrictive covenant which required the owners of land to obtain approval from the vendor before a house could be built on it was personal to the original vendor and did not benefit his successors in title. The land...
The High Court has ruled on a case in which a deceased man's son and daughter were unable to agree on the funeral arrangements that should be made for him. The man had been born in India but had lived in England for over 70 years. He passed away in...
In a divorce case involving a couple with assets of more than £260 million, the Family Court has ruled that the husband should buy out the wife's shares in three private companies . The couple had started their life together with few assets. They had...
Making a will not only ensures your assets will pass to those you wish to benefit but also simplifies the administration of your estate. However, recent research from the Money and Pensions Service shows that more than half of people in the UK aged 50-64,...
Tenants who are unhappy with the service charges they are asked to pay can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) for a determination of their liability to pay service charges. Recently, a tenant who made such an application succeeded in achieving...
Taxpayers should always ensure that they keep up to date with their tax affairs and obtain any assistance they need in meeting their obligations. This point was demonstrated in a recent case in which the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) dismissed a taxpayer's...
The Family Court recently ruled on a divorced couple's cross-applications for enforcement and variation of a periodical payments order originally made in 2012. The husband had been ordered to pay the wife £2,000 per month on a joint lives basis,...
The courts have the power to order claimants to provide financial security to ensure that the defendants can recover their costs if the claim is unsuccessful. Recently, the sons of a deceased man sought security for costs from a woman from Thailand who...
The Court of Appeal has ruled that a 15-year-old child should be allowed to legally change their given name , overturning an earlier decision of the High Court. At the age of 12, the child had told their parents that they believed themselves to be...
A person who is in adverse possession of registered land may apply to the Land Registry to be registered as its owner on the basis of ten years' adverse possession of it, ending on the date of the application. If the application is opposed by the existing...
The Income Tax rates and allowances for the 2025/26 tax year are largely unchanged from the 2024/25 year. The Personal Allowance – the amount you can earn before you begin to pay Income Tax – remains at £12,570. It reduces by £1 for...
The Family Court has granted a husband's application for a divorce he obtained in India to be recognised by the English courts . The husband and wife were both Indian nationals who now had British citizenship. They had married in India in 2010 and had...
A TV producer's partner who was left nothing in his will has commenced High Court proceedings seeking financial provision from his estate. The producer passed away in 2019, at the age of 58. He had been in a long-term relationship with his partner and had...
The Court of Protection recently granted an application by two NHS trusts for authorisation to carry out a planned caesarean in respect of a woman who was due to give birth. The 29-year-old woman had treatment resistant paranoid schizophrenia. She had...
In a case in which a man was named as a girl's father on her birth certificate but was subsequently discovered not to be her biological father, the High Court has ruled that the effect of a declaration of non-parentage was to render his acquisition of...
The Court of Appeal has reinstated an earlier ruling of the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) that a taxpayer was not resident in the UK for Income Tax purposes during the 2015/16 tax year due to exceptional circumstances that prevented her from leaving the country....
