The starting point in any estate claim is that a person making a Will (a testator) can leave their money and assets to anyone as they please. However, the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, commonly known as the Inheritance Act 1975, allows the courts to re-distribute an...

Pet custody can be a contentious issue for separating couples, with one in four divorces involving a dispute over who gets to keep the family pet. In England and Wales, the law does not consider pets as family members, but instead as assets that can be distributed in the same...

The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in his spring budget that he was allocating ‘up to £20bn’ to support the deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS), with up to £1bn invested per year. He has also reclassed nuclear power as an ‘environmentally sustainable’ energy source, a move designed to boost...

Have you considered selling your business to an employee ownership trust? In 2022, nearly 500 employee ownership trusts (EOTs) were set up, more than double the number established the year before.  At Clarke Willmott, our corporate solicitors across the country are increasingly being asked to advise on the sale of...

When selling a company, the priorities of both majority and minority stakeholders must be taken into account. Drag-along and tag-along rights exist to protect the interests of each of these parties respectively. This article explains what drag-along and tag-along rights are, and what needs to be considered when negotiating them...

In January, the government launched a consultation on proposals to deal with the calculation of holiday entitlement for workers who work for only part of the year (such as schoolteachers and teaching assistants who only work during term time) or work irregular hours following the decision of the Supreme Court...

Last week was National Family Mediation Week, making now an ideal time to review the alternative dispute resolution methods which can be used to assist parties who are separating to reach agreement regarding child or financial arrangements, without the need for court litigation. Mediation It is a statutory requirement for...

Issues to consider before agreeing to obligations that are not fully within your control Collateral warranties are notorious in the construction industry for being forgotten and/or difficult to conclude, but their significance should not be underestimated as neglecting to complete them can leave the beneficiary without recourse should a defect...

In turbulent economic times, the enforcement of a court judgment becomes a weightier consideration for anyone embarking on litigation. It is one thing to recover a favourable judgment, but it is something else to enforce it against an unscrupulous defendant. In the words of Lord Bingham: ‘an unenforceable judgment is...

Channel 4 and E4 are currently screening the seventh season of Married at First Sight (MAFS), in which couples meet for the first time when walking down the aisle, their future having been determined by a group of relationship experts. For many couples the show signalled the start of a...