Divorce & Separation Blog
The Family Voucher Scheme – Financial Help With Family Mediation Part 2 (Divorce & Separation)
This the second in our series of blogs about financial help for family mediation. In this post I’ll explain the Family Voucher Scheme. Set up in 2021, the Family Voucher Scheme provides help with costs for parents who want to take part in family mediation, and it has...
Can I Get Financial Help for Family Mediation?
There are two ways to find help with the cost of family mediation - Legal Aid and the Family Voucher Scheme. In this first post, we’ll look at Legal Aid. Part 1: Legal Aid Here’s three simple questions you need to ask, to judge if you might be eligible: What Are The...
How Do I Get to See My Grandchildren?
We often get calls from grandparents asking 'how do I get to see my grandchildren?'. Although most of us would acknowledge the importance of the relationship between children and their grandparents (and I am a grandparent), the law does not offer them the same rights...
Legal Aid For Family Mediation?
We're proud to announce that on 1st September 2024, we became a provider of Legal Aid for family mediation. This means we can offer our service to a much wider group of people, attempting to resolve issues concerning separation. In conjunction with the family...
Can I Apply for a Mediation Information & Assessment Meeting (MIAM) Exemption?
By law, if you are separating or have separated, and are involved in a dispute concerning children or finances, you must book a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (or MIAM) with a mediator. However, there are 7 exemptions that permit you to bypass the MIAM,...
Do I really need a MIAM?
The most common question I’m asked, in our free consultation discussions, is ‘Do I really need to have a MIAM?’. For most people separating, with issues they can’t resolve themselves, the answer is yes. With recent tightening up of law concerning family issues (April...
Is Mediation Future Focused?
Mediation, in regard to solving problems, has a strong emphasis on the future. But in practice, people will nearly always have to travel along a road that takes them from the past to the present, to gain an insight into how tomorrow can be different. The origins of...
A Fixed Point of View? – How Mediation Can Change Perspectives
I was listening to a Barclays’ podcast (Word on the Street # 218 - 8.6.23) on the behaviour of investors. Maya Wheland argued that people make their minds up about a situation really quickly, then are reluctant to change. With regard to investors - they become...
Mediation and Confidentiality
‘Mediation thrives on confidentiality…’ (Freedman & Prigoff 1986) Mediation is confidential, which means that nobody other than the people involved in the mediation should know the content of what’s being discussed. Why is confidentially so important? In a...
Lasting Power of Attorney Dispute? – How Mediation Can Help Find A Way Forward
A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal agreement between a donor (the person making the LPA) and their nominated attorney. This agreement enables the attorney to act for the donor and make decisions, when the donor can no longer do this for themselves. There...
Four Characteristics of Mediation
Mediation, whether wills and probate or any other type of mediation, has four main characteristics: Mediation is voluntary – the parties involved in mediation engage under their own free will. Mediation is self-determined – the mediator brings people together and...
Problems with Trusts – What has mediation got to do with it?
Trusts are deceptively simple. The legal owner of an asset, transfers its ownership to a willing third party (a trustee), for the benefit of another person (a beneficiary). But there are a complex set of rules governing trusts, that can make disputes very difficult...
Values
There’s been a lot of talk about values in the press, on the run up to the King’s Coronation. Will the new monarch lead to a reinstatement of national values, are the old one’s obsolete, has our world changed so much since the coronation of Elizabeth II that we need...
Trust
At some time in our life we are going to be conned. No matter how careful we are, how many cross checks we make, no matter how many reviews we read, someone is going to get the better of us. Whether it’s a holiday company selling us short on the experience of a...
Problems with Probate – What has mediation got to do with it?
Most executors, who take on the responsibility of carrying out the final wishes of a deceased friend colleague or family member, complete their obligation without any problems. But some hit unexpected issues, leaving them uncertain about how to resolve seemingly...
Choosing Executors – HR’s Role In Advising Business Owners on Inheritance
Following the death of a business owner, an executor will be nominated (in the will) to manage the administration of their estate (probate). People will often ask friends or relatives to act as executors for their will, but for business owners the implications of...
Taxation – HR’s Role In Advising Business Owners on Inheritance Issues
"Tax doesn’t have to be taxing’ ran the HMRC’s old ad campaign, encouraging us to fill in our tax return on time. But when it comes to taxes that are due on the death of business owners, the statement simply does not hold true – they’re complex, convoluted...
Succession or Sale? – HR’s Role In Advising Business Owners On Inheritance Issues
This second post explores the opportunity for human resource consultants to advise small business owners on the future of their business, after their deaths. We’ll look at the important question of succession or sale after the owner’s death. It’s a rather long post,...
Giving It All Away ? – Why Gifting Your Home to Your Children May Not Be Such A Good Idea
When considering the impending burden of inheritance tax and the cost of care, many parents feel that giving their home to their children could be a very attractive option. Their plan is to continue to live in the home, but pass the legal ownership to their children....
Death in Service Benefits – The Importance of Reviewing Nominations
Many employees are entitled to a death in service benefit from their employer. The figure can vary considerably from a very small sum to over ten times an employee’s annual salary. The benefit is usually linked to the staff pension scheme and will be free of...
When Your Signature Is More Than Just a Formality – The Final Steps in Executing a Will
Considering all the time and expense that can go into creating a reliable will, it’s surprising that people still get the final steps wrong. But failing to stick to these seemingly simple formalities can render your will totally invalid. Firstly, the person who is...
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