154 results found

A recent Upper Tribunal decision has clarified something important for anyone involved in owning, managing or living in residential buildings caught by the Building Safety Act 2022. While the First-tier Tribunal has wide powers to order fire safety remediation, those powers are not unlimited.

New government analysis suggests that planned employment law reforms could significantly increase the number of workplace disputes progressing through Acas early conciliation and into the employment tribunal system, adding further pressure to a structure already facing capacity pressures.

Across the UK, families are preparing for the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in living memory. In the next three decades alone, an estimated £5.5 trillion to £7 trillion...

In July 2025, a British family living in Florida travelled to the UK for a three-week holiday. Their elder son, then 14, understood that they would all be going home at the end of it. While they were in Scotland, his mother told his father that she intended to stay, and to keep both boys with her. The father did not agree.

When a substantial estate is involved, it might seem reasonable to assume that a spouse, partner or family member who is already financially secure would have little basis to seek further provision from it.

A clearly worded Will is not, on its own, sufficient to prevent an adult child from making a claim against your estate. It is an understandable assumption that it would be. If you have set out your wishes in a properly executed legal document, it seems reasonable to expect those wishes to be respected. The Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 complicates that picture significantly, and a High Court decision handed down last year illustrates just how exposed an estate can be when planning has not kept pace with life.

When someone dies the task of administering the estate usually falls to their grieving friends and relatives. Often the people who knew the deceased are the people best placed to act as their executors. But sometimes things go wrong, money disappears, decisions are made that should never have been made, and by the time beneficiaries realise the full picture, the estate has suffered losses that may be significant.

In many family businesses, there is a clear line of sight over the company’s finances. Performance is tracked closely, decisions are tested against strategy, and risk is actively managed. What sits outside the business is often far less defined.

UK hospitality and residential-adjacent property have seen aparthotels become one of the more attractive asset classes over the last few years, combining the yield profile of a hotel with the flexibility of serviced accommodation.

Separation often brings unavoidable change, but few challenges feel as complex as parenting across distance. Long-distance parenting usually develops out of practical necessity rather than deliberate choice. A new job, the need for family support, housing pressures or changes in personal circumstances can all result in parents living far apart.

The recent High Court decision in Raine v J D Wetherspoon underlines how fragile privacy can be when organisations fail to protect personal information in practice, even when they appear to do everything right on paper.

A recent inheritance dispute between three siblings following the death of their father has given the UK’s media plenty to shout about. Headlines have focused on the eye-watering figure of more than £400,000 in legal costs and on the idea of a daughter being “wiped out” financially after a court battle over her father’s estate. Stripped of its tabloid framing, however, the case of the Patel family offers something far more important. It provides a clear and sobering insight into how Will disputes arise, how the courts approach them, and why the consequences can be so severe for families who find themselves drawn into litigation.

For families with significant wealth, relationship planning is increasingly approached as part of a wider conversation about financial resilience and long-term stewardship. That shift has not occurred because attitudes towards marriage or partnership have hardened, but because the legal framework governing financial outcomes on separation has remained stubbornly unresolved.

Acas has published a draft Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures for consultation, its first full rewrite since 2009. Nothing has changed yet. The consultation closes on 23rd September 2026, Acas will then decide whether and how to take the draft forward, and any final version still needs government approval before it takes effect. What the draft does, regardless of its eventual shape, is reveal the thinking that underpins Acas’s proposed approach to workplace conflict.

Employers have long been expected to address harassment when it occurs in the workplace. Increasingly, however, the legal focus has begun to move beyond how organisations respond after an incident and towards the steps they take to prevent it happening in the first place. This reflects a growing expectation that employers should actively create working environments in which dignity and respect are protected.

By the time a relationship reaches the point of financial proceedings, something fundamental has usually shifted. Conversations that once felt manageable become strained. Communication narrows or stops altogether.

One of the most striking findings from the recent Global Family Business Think Tank was the near unanimity among experts that inheritance disputes pose a serious threat to family enterprises. Ninety five per cent of contributors agreed that disputes over inheritance represent a major risk to continuity.

The Government is considering whether the employment rights available to unpaid carers should go further. A new consultation explores everything from extending carers’ leave and introducing paid leave for the first time to creating new protections for parents whose children are diagnosed with a serious illness. Although no law has changed yet, the proposals offer an early indication of where employment law may be heading and give employers an opportunity to prepare.