| Quick Links | Kent SolicitorsLatest legal news from Kent Solicitors, Kaslers Solicitors LLP.Monday, 31 March 2008Protection Harassment. What is harassment?
Harassment includes alarming a person or causing them distress.
Courts will discount irritations, annoyances, even a measure of upset. These arise at times in day to day dealings with other people. Courts will differentiate between conduct which is unattractive, even unreasonable, and conduct which is oppressive and unacceptable. Labels: Protection from Harassment Act Friday, 28 March 2008Protection from Harassment - course of conduct
Harassment includes alarming a person or causing them distress.
Triggering action under the Protection from Harassment Act requires the wrongdoer to pursue a course of conduct. This might be two acts or possibly just one and a perceived second act. Labels: Protection Harassment Conduct Thursday, 27 March 2008CSA: sperm donor father liable
Men donating sperm through licensed fertility clinics are not the legal father of any child born through donation. The CSA cannot come after them
Men giving out their sperm in any other way, such as via internet arrangements, are legally the father of any children born. The CSA can come after them. Labels: CSA Sperm Donor CSA liability Wednesday, 26 March 2008CSA: Loan repayments not income
The absent parent was the sole director and majority shareholder in a company. He had mortgaged his house and loaned the proceeds to the company, which paid him back on a monthly basis.
He received no other remuneration from the company. The loan repayments were not income for the purposes of assessment for child maintenance However, there is a suggestion that, if this was set up deliberately to avoid child maintenance, the arrangement might be caught by anti-avoidance provisions in the child maintenance legislation. Labels: CSA Loan Repayment Income Employment - calculation of compensation
Once an Employment Tribunal has made an award, it needs to consider various adjustments, in a particular order: They are possible deduction for ex gratia payments (except non statutory redundancy payments); deduction for mitigation; Polkey reduction (can be as much as 100%); adjustment for non-compliance with disciplinary or grievance procedure; reduction for the employee"s contributory fault; deduction of enhanced redundancy payments (possibly this comes last, not decided); application of statutory cap (#60,600)
Labels: Employment Calculation Compensation Tuesday, 25 March 2008Dispute Procedure: uplift to compensationIf an Employer breaches one of the statutory procedures (disciplinary procedure or grievance procedure), then the Employment Tribunal must increase the award by at least 10% (and up to a maximum of 50%). Labels: Dispute Procedure Uplift compensation Thursday, 20 March 2008Dispute Procedure: abolition
A new Employment Bill proposes to abolish the statutory dismissal and grievance procedures
Instead Employment Tribunals will have discretion to increase awards by up to 25%, if an employer unreasonably fails to adhere to a Code of Practice. Labels: Dispute Procedure: abolition Wednesday, 19 March 2008Data Protection
How many more laptop computers can be stolen? All containing personal information
The Information Commissioner has said that where such losses occur and where encryption software has not been used to protect the data, enforcement action will be pursued. Labels: Data Protection Stolen Computers Tuesday, 18 March 2008Divorce and disclosure of company documents
Certain information is available at Companies House and the other side can be referred to the public information
Otherwise a limited company is a separate legal entity and has its own rights to privacy and confidentiality. A director / shareholder should not hand out to 3rd parties documents / information belonging to the company without authority In a divorce, the husband, say, has to disclose papers relating to his financial affairs, not that of the company by which he is employed Of course, where the husband is the sole director and 100% shareholder, it all a bit of a fiction and it may well be that the wife is alleging that he is sheltering money in the company until the divorce is over In those circumstances, the court might well order the husband to produce company papers The husband should make the wife give coherent arguments for disclosure of each category of documents she seeks seeking rather than just handing it out without thinking Labels: Divorce disclosure company documents Monday, 17 March 2008Capital Gains Tax: Indexation Allowance
Indexation allowance will be withdrawn from 6 April.
Indexation allowance only applies for the period April 1982 to April 1998, but those who have held assets prior to April 1998 will be worried at the loss of this allowance. Indexation allowance can be banked by a transfer to a spouse or civil partner, and that may well be a straightforward and cheap means of preserving the relief Labels: Capital Gains Tax Indexation Allowance Friday, 14 March 2008Conveyancing Notice: removal
If someone wrongly enters a notice against registered land, you can apply for an injunction based on breach of s77 Land Registration Act 2002. Notices entered improperly will be punished by an award of damages
Labels: Conveyancing Notice Removal Thursday, 13 March 2008Banks: clearing system
The rules on clearing cheques have been changed. The payee will earn interest on the proceeds after a maximum of 2 days from deposit of the cheque, and will be able to withdraw the proceeds after a maximum of 4 days and will know the fate of the cheque after a maximum of 6 days
Labels: Banks clearing system Wednesday, 12 March 2008Force Majeure: construction
Force Majeure clauses are construed narrowly by the courts and so should be as precise as possible.
Labels: Frustration construction Tuesday, 11 March 2008Frustration: contracting out
Section 2(3) Law Reform (Frustrated Contracts) Act 1943 allows the exclusion of the doctrine of frustration from contracts. It also allows the parties to spell out the financial and other consequences of a frustrating event. This is done by a comprehensive force majeure clauses
Labels: Frustration contracting out Monday, 10 March 2008Frustration
Frustration of a contract is where it becomes physically or commercially impossible to perform, or makes the obligations radically different. At common law, the contract is discharged and no-one is obliged to do more
Labels: Frustration Friday, 7 March 2008Statutory demand: #750
You cannot serve a statutory demand when there is a contract claim that is clearly less than #750
Labels: Statutory demand Thursday, 6 March 2008Capital Gains Tax
Last year, the Government announced a change to capital gains tax (CGT), to take effect April 2008 so that, amongst others, people selling businesses (which they may have built up over several years, employing people etc) were taxed at 18% not the usual 10%
After much lobbying, the Government has announced a new entrepreneurs relief. The first #1m of gains on qualifying assets will be reduced to 5/9 of their actual amount, so that the effective rate of tax will still be 18% x 5/9 = 10%. The #1m is a lifetime limit, to cover all qualifying gains on disposals made after 5 April 2008. Qualifying assets include trading businesses, stakes in trading partnerships and shares in trading companies. Shares will only qualify if the investor has at least a 5% stake and works in the business. Further changes may occur before this becomes law Labels: Capital Gains Tax Wednesday, 5 March 2008Malicious and unreasonable commencement of bankruptcy proceedings
Malicious presentation of a bankruptcy petition can result in a claim by the recipient for damages
Labels: Malicious unreasonable commencement bankruptcy proceedings Tuesday, 4 March 2008Reasonable endeavours
Reasonable endeavours allows the person giving such an undertaking to balance their contractual duty against relevant commercial considerations. The likely success or otherwise of any endeavours is also important. The person may consider his own commercial interest.
Labels: Reasonable endeavours Monday, 3 March 2008Revenue target landlords
HMRC are going to look at the affairs of people they suspect of not having declared rental income. They will send out a few hundred letters to taxpayers (copied to agents) from 18 February.
The first letters will be sent to people who complete Self Assessment Tax Returns but have not declared rental income on submitted Returns. Thereafter HMRC will deal with individuals with a tax record but who do not complete Self Assessment Returns and then people with no tax records. Labels: Revenue target landlords
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Members: Michael D Breeze LL.B (Hons.) and Simon McCree Scott LL.B (Hons.)
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