Top tips: How to protect your Will from being challenged
Challenges to Wills are more common nowadays and likely to be increasingly so in the future. What, if anything, can be done to protect a Will from being challenged? To...
The impact of Brexit – an employment law perspective
Now that the immediate dust from the momentous decision by the UK public to leave the EU has settled, employment law specialists are surveying the horizon; what changes to the...
Lasting Powers of Attorney for peace of mind
Many people combine successful businesses and careers with active social lives, taking skiing and sailing holidays, cycling to keep fit and generally enjoying their hard earned leisure time. The problem...
Do I need to appoint a professional trustee?
A trust is a useful tool that allows you to retain some control of how your assets are allocated to your beneficiaries. They can help preserve your assets for future...
Deeds of variation: still a useful tool to reduce inheritance tax
Despite the Government reviewing deeds of variation last year to see if they were being used to avoid tax, no action was taken and for the time being, they remain...
Considerations for separated parents taking children on holiday
It’s that time of the year – schools are out for the summer and children up and down the country are looking forward to their summer holiday. For children of...
Bankruptcy and winding up petition deposits to increase from 21 July 2016
The Insolvency Proceedings (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2016 (SI 2016/692) (“Order”) will come into force on 21 July 2016, revoking The Insolvency Proceedings (Fees) Order 2004 (SI 2004/593). The Order provides...
Lorna Bowler qualifies for the National Track Omnium Final
Lorna Bowler, the young cyclist we are sponsoring through the SportsAid programme, has been juggling her training and competing with school exams. She recently qualified for the National Track Omnium Final...
Debenhams Ottaway sponsors St Albans Literary Festival 2016
Debenhams Ottaway is sponsoring one of the headline events at this year’s St Albans Literary Festival, Anthony Lester QC in conversation with Martine Croxall, on Friday 8 July. Anthony will...
Company directors imprisoned following convictions for health and safety breach
June 2016 A recent Crown Court case provides a stark reminder of the serious potential consequences for company directors who are found in breach of health and safety legislation. In...
Competition and Markets Authority guidance on online reviews and endorsements
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has recently published an open letter providing guidance to PR and marketing companies on online reviews and endorsements of consumer products and services. This...
Child maintenance: How is it decided who pays and how much?
From 2018 the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) will replace the Child Support Agency (CSA). Although this is still two years away, the CMS is already starting to take over all...
Susan Glenholme interview with Law Society PS Magazine
Following Debenhams Ottaway’s win at the Law Society Excellence Awards 2015, partner Susan Glenholme talks to the Law Society PS Magazine about the benefits winning the award has brought to...
Why living together can be a leap of faith
Whilst living together before marriage is a reality of modern life, the existence of a common law wife or husband remains a myth. The younger generations often view living together...
Proprietary estoppel: My word is my bond (or is it?)
In the recent case of Liden v Burton, the Court of Appeal upheld the trial judge’s decision to award a former partner (Liden) a 10% interest in her partner’s property after...
How will Brexit effect your workplace?
Speculation on the possible effects of a ‘leave’ vote in the EU Referendum is now in full swing. Many commentators are of the view that it would have minimal impact...
Do you trust your Will to save inheritance tax?
Discretionary trusts, popular in Wills between spouses a decade ago and designed to save inheritance tax (IHT), could end up causing bigger tax bills when new rules come into force...
Arbitration v litigation
The lord chief justice recently called for arbitration and the courts to work better together and for the relationship between the two to be rebalanced. This reignited the question that...
Where you divorce may affect your share of the marital pot
The divorce capital of the world; a reputation that some say London has attracted because divorcing wives will tend to be awarded a bigger share of the money here than...
Where there’s a way there’s a (Statutory) Will
As a general rule if a person lacks mental capacity, then they cannot sign a Will. An individual making a Will has to understand what it is they are doing...