Blog

Dawn Pennell, of Capron & Helliwell solicitors, considers less well-known facts about child maintenance Parties may enter into a maintenance agreement with one another if they reach an agreement on what should be paid for child maintenance and in such circumstances, there is no need to involve the Child Maintenance Service.  However, a maintenance agreement will not prevent either party making an application to the Child Maintenance Service for a maintenance calculation to be assessed. All children in full-time non-advanced education are now eligible for child maintenance up to t...

At Capron and Helliwell we note that there has been a lot in the news recently concerning problems with leasehold properties. Specifically, what does this mean for you as a buyer?  There have been instances where purchasers of flats have been surprised to learn that their flat has rents and other charges due even after paying the purchase price. This is especially alarming where some ground rents increase dramatically at regular intervals. Often, we find people do not know the difference between a freehold and a leasehold property or what this entails.  A freehold property is on...

At present divorcing couples need to demonstrate that their marriage has irretrievably broken down and are forced to blame each other for that by providing evidence of a ‘fact’ that their spouse has behaved unreasonably, has committed adultery or deserted them, unless they prove that they have lived apart for two years with the other’s consent or five years without that consent. The Government announced in 2018 that, subject to consultation, it was its intention to reform the legal requirement for divorce, shifting the focus from blame to support adults better to focus on...

On-line divorce - Figures from the Ministry of Justice show that more than 23,000 applications were made online from when Divorce Online was launched in April 2018 to the end of 2018. The festive holiday period can be an extremely stressful time for relationships so it should probably come as no surprise that between Christmas Eve 2018 and New Year’s Day 2019 455 online divorce applications were made with 13 couples starting their divorce process on Christmas Day.  Stalking - On 15th March 2019 the Stalking Protection Act 2019 received Royal Assent. It provides protection from t...