Articles
Whether it's Christmas holidays, summer holidays or any other holiday time, for separated parents making arrangements to spend time with their children can prove to be very difficult. It is important to try and make these arrangements as soon as possible in the run up to any holiday period.
Finally the Chancellor spreads some of his pre-Christmas cheer on first time buyers! During yesterday’s 2017 Autumn Budget, the Chancellor Philip Hammond axed stamp duty for first time buyers who are purchasing properties up to £300,000.
Anyone buying a house needs the money to pay for it, however, for us as experienced Conveyancers, we have the important task of making sure we know exactly where the deposit is coming from when you are buying a property.
You’ve just had an offer accepted on your dream home which has taken months to pick. It can sometimes be even harder to select the best Conveyancer to complete your purchase or sale. At Lawson-West, we have offices in Leicester, Market Harborough and Wigston, meaning you have the benefit of instructing a Solicitor within your local area.
Adding to the Lawson-West catalogue of seminars and events, we ran a mock employment tribunal on November 9th at our Leicester office.
The meeting room area was set up to replicate a court room setting and three barristers from London firm The 36 Group were in attendance too, with one acting as a Judge.
Lawson-West Solicitors in Leicester, Market Harborough and Wigston prepare many Wills each year for clients. As part of our service we provide free Will registration with Certainty which is a national Will database endorsed by the Law Society.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has confirmed that Uber’s appeal against the decision to class its drivers as workers rather than self employed has failed.
The Office of National Statistics has released figures for the amount of couples getting divorced in England and Wales in 2016 and recorded that rates have increased for the first time in a decade.
Here is something I guarantee you have not previously considered - what happens to your social media accounts when you pass away? Making your Will is an ideal time to think about your ‘online self’ alongside your ‘real’ assets and preparing for times when you are no longer around.
Recently, the charity Maternity Action have released a report on the impact of unfair redundancies on pregnant women and new mothers. The report calls on the Government to act urgently on its commitment to review redundancy protection, which was made in January 2017 but is yet to be acted upon.
I recently read an article entitled ‘you’d have to be mad to marry in later life’ where the author pointed out that marriage in your later years would most likely disinherit your children, cause family disputes and result in costly solicitor fees to sort out your estate. She cited ‘inheritance tax laws being so complicated’ as a reason not to remarry, and, after quoting all of these reasons, stated that later marriages are a ‘late-life lunacy’.
When thinking about our assets, most of us make a list of those things that we know are valuable: our homes, our bank accounts, perhaps our shares in companies and our pension pots, but do we think about those not so apparent assets?
The Supreme Court decision on 26th July 2017 declared Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal fees unlawful and abolished them with immediate effect but what does this mean practically for employers?
A former senior vice president is taking his employment discrimination case to the court of appeal after previous hearings at an Employment Tribunal and an Employment Appeal Tribunal. The case revolves around whether it is fair for an employee to be dismissed for refusing to co-operate in workplace discrimination against them.
Nearly three months after employment tribunal fees were abolished, the government has today revealed the scheme to refund those who were incorrectly charged.
When news about the collapse of the Monarch airline broke, it came out of the blue. Holiday makers were stranded; people waiting to go away had to make alternative arrangements and the issues did not stop there, what about the staff?
Use of Mediation in Resolving Litigation
This week marks “Mediation Awareness Week”, and so we thought that we would share with you our own views about the process of mediation in the context of litigation matters.
There has been a recent increase of people going to court for family law matters without instructing, or at least visiting, a Solicitor to gain professional legal advice about their case.
There have been many stories in the press of late, concerning the gig economy, but were you aware that foster carers are not classified as employees but as workers? This means they do not receive the benefits that employees do.
The Low Pay Commission recently carried out a report which concluded that it is women who are routinely paid less than the national minimum wage, and the main rationale behind this is because they are less likely to complain about it
The recent furore regarding the gender pay gap at the BBC has highlighted that, even in the biggest and most reputable organisations, there is still a way to go. It was notable that the best paid male BBC star earned 5 times what the best paid female star earned and that two thirds of the on-air high earners were men.
The newspapers have been filled with stories about Ryanair’s cancellation of over 2,000 flights affecting over 400,000 travellers. And, quite rightly, the emphasis of these stories is on the poor people who have had their flights cancelled or those who are stranded in their holiday destinations and are struggling to arrange flights home.
After proving a case of maternity discrimination, Lawson-West obtained an award of £10,000 for the Claimant’s injury to feelings award, which then increased by more than 50% to £15,332.19 because of uplifts and interest.
Director Vicky Jones is nominated in the Businesswoman of the Year category and Trainee Solicitor Phoebe Tranter is up for the Apprentice of the Year award.
Fibromyalgia is a form of chronic pain syndrome, the symptoms of which leave people with overwhelming pain, headaches, sleeplessness and depression. Managing such a condition at work can be challenging but you should not be placed at a disadvantage if you are a sufferer.
It is widely acknowledged that the continual changes in employment law have made it tougher for employers to stay well informed of their obligations. This in turn with the already hard hitting tribulations which come with running a business, have meant that more and more employers are faced with situations which can lead to upset and disgruntled employees with potential for an increase in Employment Tribunal Claims.
CRAR is only available to landlords of written leases of commercial premises and will not be available where the premises are let or occupied as a residential dwelling...
In or about 2004, our Client experienced respiratory difficulties. These included a chest infection and wheeze, and were treated as a chest infection with underlying asthma. Our Client’s GP prescribed an inhaler, the use of which made no difference to the symptoms...
Family Solicitors are finding that their clients are using social media to talk about, or ‘bad mouth’ their ex-partners. It may be done in the heat of the moment or without much thought but these types of actions can have lasting consequences.
Previously, the Court of Appeal set out guidance for calculating awards given to parties who have suffered an act or multiple acts of discrimination - this award is known as an injury to feelings award. The scale to establish what a person can be awarded has been guided by the leading case Vento v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police since 2002. These are known as the Vento guidelines.
Our trainee Commercial Solicitor, Rebecca Beswick (Becki) qualified on September 1st. She studied Law and Criminology at the University of Sheffield, graduating in 2011 with an honours degree, before enrolling onto the LPC course at De Montfort University.
This week is migraine awareness week. Many employers do not understand the awful effects of migraines and they could do more to support staff with the condition.
Yesterday (5/9/17) there was a landmark decision by the European Court of Human Rights who ruled that a worker had his rights breached when his private emails were monitored by his employer without his knowledge. .
This case involved an engineer in charge of sales between August 2004 and August 2007. As part of his role, he was asked to set up a Yahoo Messenger account to handle customers’ queries.
Employers are being urged to offer support to workers who give birth to premature or ill babies.
The conciliation service Acas has urged employers to be flexible in giving time off to parents so they can attend hospital appointments.
A recent report carried out by XpertHR concluded that employee absence has increased to 6.6 days per person, per year meaning that employers are losing out on a rate of 2.9% productivity due to staff not being at work.
Roughly speaking, this means employers with 1,000 or more staff loose on average 8.8 days per employee.
If you are unsure about what you should tell your conveyancer, err on the side of caution and give us the information. If you don’t - and it turns out to be important - it could lead to delays in the process and in the worst cases, the sale or purchase falling through.
As we have previously reported, supermarket chain Asda was taken to an employment tribunal last year due to a high volume of pay discrepancies between male and female staff.
There has been a 10% increase in private law cases reported to Cafcass (the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) for applications for divorce, separation and child arrangements.
Our trainee Commercial Property Solicitor Rebecca Beswick qualifies today - congratulations.
The abolishment of Tribunal Fees has paved the way for the possibility of people getting a second chance to pursue their claims if being unable to fund the fees prevented it previously being heard.
When you first instruct us, we will ask you questions about the property. We’re not being nosey – we just need to understand every part of your move. This is to ensure you get what you want and expect.
We know you’re excited about your move and we also know it’s easy to forget things. You might not think to tell us something because you don’t think it’s important for the house purchase. But by letting us know things such as requirements to park a caravan or commercial vehicle or plans to extend the property in the future – you could stop delays in the process later on.
Newspaper stories published on Tuesday, report that the majority of his £17 million wealth has been left to his wife of 34 years in order to avoid Inheritance Tax. The reports have also said that current UK law states that spouses can hand over their assets without being taxed – something the Wills and Probate team at Lawson-West are keen to put into perspective.
At Lawson-West, we are able to offer clients a number of funding options. One of the most accessed, especially for Employment law matters, is ‘no win no fee’. But what is it and what does it mean?
On Thursday 3rd August we had a big party at Dominus Way for our clients and contacts commemorating 40 years of Lawson-West being in business.
Client feedback is so important to us because it provides the opportunity to deliver constructive criticism and to make suggestions if there is something we can do better, or to let us know they are pleased with the service we provide and the results we achieve.
We are aiming to raise vital funds for nine of the UK’s best loved charities, after signing up for Will Aid, the annual charity will writing campaign.
We are hosting a seminar as part of this years' Leicester Business Festival for SMEs and Owner Managed Businesses.
Ella also told us about the Canine Care Card, a card that a person registers that reflects their wishes for their dog to be rehomed by the Dogs Trust if they pass away first.
This scheme is so valuable and will hopefully encourage people who may have been reluctant about rehoming a dog (perhaps due to age) that it will continue to be cared for when they are no longer able to care for the dog themselves.
