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The Upper Tribunal (UT) has upheld an appeal by the landlords of a rental property against a decision of the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) to vary an improvement notice, finding that the FTT had failed to explain why the local authority was justified in...
The Government has confirmed plans to bring most unused pension funds and death benefits within the scope of Inheritance Tax (IHT) from 6 April 2027. The plans were originally announced at the Autumn Budget 2024. This was followed by a technical...
The High Court has ruled that a will made by an elderly woman less than two years before she died was invalid because she lacked testamentary capacity when it was made. The woman had died in October 2014 at the age of 95. In January 2013 she had made a...
The Government has launched a full review of parental leave and pay, with the aim of better supporting working families and helping children to get the best start in life. The Government says that the current system is complicated and does not always give...
In a ruling that clarifies the circumstances in which non-matrimonial assets can become 'matrimonialised', the Supreme Court has upheld a decision of the Court of Appeal that a transfer of assets from a husband to a wife as part of a tax planning exercise...
The First-tier Tribunal (FTT) has allowed a company's appeal against a VAT assessment raised by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), finding that the assessment was made when it was countersigned by an HMRC officer and was thus made outside the statutory time...
Paragraph 7 of Schedule 3 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 gives the Court of Protection the power to exercise its functions under the Act in relation to an adult who is habitually resident in England and Wales. It is therefore sometimes necessary for the...
If a UK domain name held by someone else is similar to your own name or trading style, you can seek to have it transferred to you by making a complaint to Nominet UK through its Dispute Resolution Service (DRS). Recently, an academy trust responsible for 26...
The licensing regime for houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) exists to protect the safety and welfare of tenants. Recently, four tenants of an unlicensed HMO obtained rent repayment orders totalling £23,177. The tenants had rented a four-bedroom...
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has upheld an appeal against the striking out of a man's claims after he failed to comply with a case management order, finding that the Employment Tribunal (ET) had failed to consider whether a fair trial was still...
Anyone who requires assistance with their tax affairs should ensure that they deal with a reputable and appropriately regulated advisor. Recently, a courier who claimed rebates for work expenses on the basis of misleading advice was unsuccessful in his...
The High Court has refused a university's application for permission to adduce expert evidence relating to the interpretation of a licence it had entered into with a pharmaceutical company. Under the licence, which was entered into in 2004, the university...
The Family Division of the High Court has granted a mother's application for her younger daughter, who was living with her father in the USA, to be returned to the UK. The mother and father had decided to separate in 2020 but, due to the COVID-19...
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has dismissed an appeal against a decision that a consultant to a professional services firm was only entitled to be paid fees in respect of work he had personally done for one of the firm's clients, rather than all work...
Recent figures from HM Courts and Tribunals Service show that the waiting time for grants of probate has remained steady for several months, following delays in processing probate applications in recent years. The average time from submission of a probate...
The Court of Appeal has rejected a supermarket chain's appeal against the dismissal of its claim for judicial review of a planning permission granted to a competitor. The Court found that the local council had correctly understood and applied the...
In certain circumstances, a member of a club whose membership is unfairly terminated may be able to obtain legal redress. In a recent case, a woman who was expelled from a prestigious golf club after she was accused of cheating in a competition has succeeded...
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have published statistics showing the tax gap – the difference between the amount of tax that should, in theory, be paid to HMRC and the amount actually paid. The statistics indicate that small businesses account for a...
The leaseholders of a flat in a separate wing of a country house have succeeded in their appeal against a determination that they were liable to pay service charges in respect of the common parts of the house. The leaseholders had purchased the flat in...
A company that provides direct-to-consumer genetic testing services has been fined £2.31 million by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for failing to implement appropriate security measures to protect the personal information of UK users. ...
The Family Court has ruled on an application for financial remedies in a case which involved a range of assets and was characterised by animosity and dispute. The husband and wife had married in Cyprus in 2008 and subsequently lived in London. They...
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has upheld a woman's appeal against the dismissal of her complaint of victimisation, finding that the Employment Tribunal (ET) had adopted too narrow a definition of what could constitute a protected act and had not...
The First-tier Tribunal (FTT) has rejected a woman's argument that her former husband was liable to tax on half of the income from a rental property they jointly owned. She and her husband had bought the property in 2013. In 2015 her husband went on...
In a decision that will be welcomed by property developers , the Supreme Court has ruled that if a developer voluntarily remedies defects in a development, there is no rule of law preventing it from seeking damages from the party responsible for the...
Yesterday, 2 July 2025, Bryony Ritchie from our Canterbury Castle Street office gave a well-received talk at Westgate Hall in Canterbury to a group of RNLI supporters. The event was attended by 35 members of the public, all of whom have expressed an...
In cases regarding medical treatment, judges sometimes have to make difficult decisions urgently in very sad circumstances. Recently, the Court of Protection ruled that it was in the best interests of a woman with anorexia to be fed while under general...
The Upper Tribunal (UT) has dismissed a snack food manufacturer's appeal against a decision that bags of mini-poppadoms it produced were standard-rated for VAT as the mini-poppadoms were made from potato and were similar to crisps. Part II, Group 1 of...
The High Court has refused an application for summary judgment on a claim of deceit in relation to the sale of a business, or alternatively to strike out the claim. The claimant had acquired a health business from the defendants. It claimed that it had...
A woman who stole her daughters' inheritance has been handed a prison sentence and ordered to pay back the money. The woman's mother passed away in 2013. The woman received an inheritance of about £40,000 from her mother's house, while £50,000...
A man who works for an organisation providing community-based services to children has been awarded compensation after an Employment Tribunal (ET) found that his employer had discriminated against him due to his disability and failed to make reasonable...
The Family Division of the High Court has granted a couple's application for a parental order in respect of a boy who was born to a surrogate mother in California. The case raised an important welfare issue in that the intended parents were both in their...
At Boys and Maughan, we take pride in looking after the best interests of our local community. Recently, Karen Perreau and Kirsty McGhee , from our Children Law team, had the opportunity to visit The Forward Trust’s local hub, just a stone’s...
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 fashion retailer has successfully defended a claim of infringement of unregistered design rights brought against it by a clothing designer. The designer mainly promoted herself through social media. Her work had achieved recognition in two fashion...
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...
A management company has successfully appealed against a service charge determination that resulted in a leaseholder's service charge demand being substantially reduced, on the basis that the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) had not properly explained its...
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...
When a transfer of a business takes place to which the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) applies, does any vicarious liability of the original employer to a third party for wrongdoing by an employee transfer to 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...
A restaurant company has partly succeeded in its appeal against VAT and Corporation Tax (CT) assessments and penalties raised by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), in a case which illustrates the importance of thorough record keeping. The company operated a...
The High Court has discharged a worldwide freezing order and an access and imaging order applied for without notice against a holding company and one of its directors, finding that the application had been made without full and frank disclosure. The...
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 Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has allowed an employer's appeal against a decision that there was an implied term in a lorry driver's contract that entitled him to be paid for additional hours worked beyond his intended normal working hours ( Brake...
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...
A software company that provides data processing services to organisations, including the NHS and other healthcare providers, has been fined more than £3 million by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) following a ransomware attack. The attack...
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...
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has rejected a man's appeal against the dismissal of his claim for racial harassment on the grounds that the incident did not happen in the course of employment and that his employer had taken all reasonable steps to...
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,...
You may have seen in the news that the Government has announced that the group behind a significant cyber-attack on the Legal Aid Agency has accessed a large amount of information relating to legal aid applicants. The Ministry of Justice has stated that it...
The Upper Tribunal (UT) has declined to set aside a decision of the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) not to make an order for costs in favour of a company which successfully appealed against an improvement notice served on it by the local housing authority under...
