My name is Charlotte and I am a Trainee Solicitor in the Private Client team here at Pepperells Solicitors. For the most part, Private Client is a non-contentious area of law, this means I do not attend Court or undertake any advocacy in my day to day work. Within the Private Client department, we mainly deal with Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney and Estate Administration. Here is a day in my life. 6.55- We have two shifts here at Pepperells, a [...]
A blog by Blue Stephenson, Trainee Solicitor in the Family department at Pepperells Solicitors. Recent legislation which came into effect on 28th January 2021 has removed the existing cap on the amount of mortgage debt that can be deducted from a property’s value when considering a client’s capital for the purposes of assessing eligibility for legal aid. Given the recent change in legislation we thought it an opportune time to consider again a client’s eligibility for legal aid in private family [...]
A Deed of Variation is a legal document that enables the contents of a Will to be varied. The people who agree to the Deed of Variation are the current beneficiaries of the Estate as they are the ones relinquishing some or all of their share. There are many reasons people wish to vary a Will, some examples are; · To leave a gift to someone who is not currently a beneficiary, · Leave money to a charity (this can assist with [...]
If you or one of your family members have a registered Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA), it is sensible to lodge the LPA with the organisations where you intend to use it as soon as possible to prevent delay or any additional stress, particularly if the donor (the person who made the LPA) has lost or is starting to lose capacity to deal with matters themselves. Previously, this could only be done with the paper document and a face to [...]
A blog by Blue Stephenson, Trainee Solicitor in the Family Department at Pepperells Solicitors. If you are a shareholder in a limited company and are contemplating getting a divorce, you are likely to have questions as to how this might impact upon any financial settlement reached between you and your spouse. Perhaps both you and your spouse are shareholders in the same company and you are concerned as to how you will separate your business ties as well as your [...]
A blog by Blue Stephenson, Trainee Solicitor in the Family Department at Pepperells Solicitors. If you are a shareholder in a limited company and are contemplating getting a divorce, you are likely to have questions as to how this might impact upon any financial settlement reached between you and your spouse. Perhaps both you and your spouse are shareholders in the same company and you are concerned as to how you will separate your business ties as well as your [...]
A blog by Blue Stephenson, Trainee Solicitor in the Family Department at Pepperells Solicitors. If you are a shareholder in a limited company and are contemplating getting a divorce, you are likely to have questions as to how this might impact upon any financial settlement reached between you and your spouse. Perhaps both you and your spouse are shareholders in the same company and you are concerned as to how you will separate your business ties as well as your [...]
If you are a shareholder in a limited company and are contemplating getting a divorce, you are likely to have questions as to how this might impact upon any financial settlement reached between you and your spouse. Perhaps both you and your spouse are shareholders in the same company and you are concerned as to how you will separate your business ties as well as your marital ones. In the first of a series of short blogs, Blue Stephenson, who [...]
With reportedly 94% of people have some form of digital presence and 52% of people saying that none of their personal representatives would be able to access their digital assets on their death, it is becoming increasingly more important for individuals to consider making direct provision for digital assets in their Will or as part of their estate planning. When considering digital assets, people must remember that they should be treated separately from the device on which they are stored. [...]
Further to the referendum concerning Brexit on 23 June 2016, it no doubt caused uncertainty amongst commercial property landlords and the effect it may have upon tenancy agreements. Last year many commercial landlords will have no doubt been actively following the high court case of Canary Wharf (BP4) T1 Limited (‘Canary Wharf’) v European Medicines Agency (‘EMA’), with much apprehension. Within this case the Court had to decide whether or not the EMA could cite Brexit as the reason for [...]
