Archive

Estate planning update

Helen Bryant welcomes HMRC's new 'inheritance tax toolkit', and looks at the execution and rectification of wills, costs in probate disputes and whether solicitors have a duty to give IHT advice in corporate transactions

When all is said and done

Another week and another announcement by a wannabe ABS that it intends to get into the legal services market big time. First it was QualitySolicitors which suddenly raised the temperature last month by selling up to venture capitalists Palamon Capital. Then, a fortnight ago, Cooperative Legal Services – set up by the Co-op in 2006 before the Legal Services Act even received Royal Assent – said it would launch a family legal advice service as soon as the Solicitors Regulation Authority was in a position to regulate alternative business structures. And last week, In-Deed, the conveyancing service set up by Rightmove founder Harry Hill, said it will buy up law firms to expand its legal services offering into areas such as will writing and personal injury work.

Let's put the ABSolutely into fabulous

None of the law abiding and kind readers of this article would ever own up to doing such a thing. My defence is that my crime is now statute barred and in any event I was at the time below the age of criminal responsibility. All the same I have to confess that in the distant past I would occasionally kick an ants' nest while on a wooded walk and watch the occupants' subsequent frenetic activity as they rushed to repair the damage. If I returned a day later I would find the nest completely reinstated and ready for the next juvenile boot.

Going it alone

From a converted cobbler's shop in Leeds to opening a third office in central London, Marilyn Stowe's practice has come a long way in 30 years – but it hasn't always been an easy ride, she explains as she celebrates her firm's anniversary

Lady Hale lays down new rules for cohabitation disputes

New five-point test asks courts to look for evidence of intention or 'fair share'

LeO's naming and shaming a 'witch hunt', Sutton says

Solicitors and firms in ombudsman decisions will be named next year

In-Deed to move in on medium-sized law firms

Rightmove founder has 'no interest in buying small businesses'

SRA unveils international 'passport to practice'

The SRA is proposing to sweep away the old system of registering foreign offices of City-based global firms and bring in a single 'international passport to practice'.