Following a recent request, and in consultation with our family law author, we have developed a Questions on the financial statement precedent for the Financial remedy guide. Read more...

Our recent spring clean of the Private child arrangements guide has seen additions to the commentary including case law, guidance around spotting and responding to parental alienation, and applying for barring orders under s 91(14) of the Children Act 1989.

Following a recent in-depth author review, commentary on Legal Aid tendering, cybercrime prevention and business continuity planning have been enriched. Read more...

We are pleased to announce that a new Estates Disputes publication has been published. Comprising two guides, Estate disputes – Acting for the claimant and Estate disputes – Acting for the defendant, the publication contains all the commentary, precedents, and forms needed. Read more...

The domestic agreement process can be tricky for clients to understand. By Lawyers have published several new client enclosures to help practitioners further explain the process and inform their client. Read more...

The new Contract Disputes guide has been published. Read more...

The recent decision to change the name of this folder to General Deeds, Agreements, Statements, Declarations, Consents & Execution Clauses grants the opportunity to highlight its usefulness once again. Read more...

We have removed the link to Dealing with Brexit legal issues from the top of the matter plans as the changes are no longer urgent. The publication remains in the Reference Materials folder of the Practice Management guide for reference.

Most of the requirements for possession claims set out in Practice Direction 55C are no longer in force, and our commentaries have been amended accordingly.

n response to a user request, we have compiled four example content documents covering the four most common concise financial remedy orders: Concise clean break order with one joint account to close and one property to be sold; Concise clean break order with a lump sum payment, one pension to be shared and one property to be transferred; Concise order with spousal maintenance, one pension to be shared and one property to be transferred; and Concise Mesher order for deferred sale. These can be found in the Financial Remedy guide, within the C. Settling it early folder. They are alongside a Template Financial remedy order into which the example content can be copied and pasted. The paragraphs in the Clauses for a Financial remedy order (The Orders Project - Financial Remedy Omnibus) can be used to supplement the new concise orders to cater for more complex situations. We have also produced a Deed of assignment to secure legal costs - Sears Tooth Agreement also in response to a user request. This can be found in the Getting the matter underway folder.

We are very pleased to announce the release of a Letters of Administration guide. The guide covers all aspects of practice and procedure when acting in the administration of an estate where there is no will, or there is a partial intestacy. The guide assists practitioners with all aspects of the estate administration from applying for a grant through to distribution. The commentary is practical and easy to understand and is supported by numerous helpful precedents. Key content includes law and procedure relating to the intestacy rules and the impact that they have on the distribution of the estate to creditors, claimants and beneficiaries. A number of new precedents have been published, including: 6 examples for the content of an administrator’s statement of truth; A full suite of letters to administrators, beneficiaries and third parties; and A very useful precedent Estate Summary Pack. The Letters of Administration guide is an invaluable resource for all practitioners who deal with estate administration, including those with limited experience in this area or those supervising junior lawyers.

Following some recent user feedback, the File Closing Checklist has been re-organised to enhance the logical sequence of the precedent. By grouping the items for review such as matter considerations, finance considerations, and file logistics, the improved layout will assist practitioners to complete these very important forms as part of their risk management strategy

We are very pleased to announce the release of two new By Lawyers publications: Employment Law – Non-Contentious; and Employment Law - Contentious. These two publications cover all aspects of practice and procedure whether acting for employees or for employers. They assist practitioners with representing clients, document drafting through to managing matters within the employment tribunals. The commentaries are practical and easy to understand and are supported by numerous helpful precedents. Key content includes: Commentary on contracts of employment, human resources, policies and procedures, transfer of undertakings, redundancy and unfair and wrongful dismissal. Commentary on conciliation, mediation and arbitration in the employee/employer relationship. Law and procedure relating to employment tribunals, including the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Comprehensive To Do Lists and Retainer Instructions ensure all necessary instructions are taken and followed. Letters to clients and third parties when establishing the employment relationship and when disputes arise. These Employment Law publications are an invaluable resource for practitioners who regularly conduct employment matters, as well as those with limited experience or those supervising junior lawyers. We invite you to explore these new guides. Comments and feedback are always welcomed.

To complement the new ‘Your Finances’ app for gathering financial information from clients, two new letters have been added to the Financial Remedy guide. The first, Letter to client instructed to commence proceedings with financial remedy – Form E shared via LawConnect, contains step-by-step instructions for using LawConnect which clients can follow. The second, Letter to client with financial statement for signing – eSignature, contains guidance for clients on signing the Financial Statement using DocuSign. We invite you to explore these new letters. Comments and feedback are always welcomed.

As practitioners are no doubt aware, the government has recently promised to finally reform the way that leasehold works, and to address the issues with commonhold. This has prompted By Lawyers to include three new precedents in the Enfranchisement guide: Memorandum of Association – Commonhold limited company Articles of Association – Commonhold limited company Community statement – Commonhold limited company Wholesale reformation of the property ownership system is long overdue and it is hoped that amendments to the legislation will reassure lenders and developers, persuading them to leave the cosy confines of leasehold and finally embrace the brave new world of the commonhold system, 20 years after it was created. When the new rules are announced, we will, of course, review and amend our materials to ensure that users have access to the most up-to-date information. In the meantime, we will be keeping a close eye on the most positive news item of 2021 so far.