Author Archives: Tim Bishop

What Makes A Valid Will?

By Tim Bishop | Published: May 16, 2012

Your will is a very important legal document, and as such, needs to fulfil certain criteria. Without these criteria in place, the will is not valid, and may be challenged and overturned. A will is valid if: • it’s made by a person aged 18 or over, voluntarily and without being coerced by a third [...]

Posted in Contesting Will, Wills | Comments closed

Frequently asked questions about neighbour disputes

By Tim Bishop | Published: May 14, 2012

Disputes between neighbours can be extremely distressing for those involved and what may start out as seemingly minor issues can, if not correctly managed, quickly escalate into costly legal disputes and court action which far outweighs the value of any rights lost or damaged. What kind of disputes can arise? Such disputes often relate to [...]

Posted in Litigation | Comments closed

Why you should seek a specialist Lease Extension Surveyor

By Tim Bishop | Published: May 10, 2012

The majority of surveyors rarely deal with lease extension valuations and few high street surveyors completely understand how leasehold extensions really work due to their complexity and are unlikely to be able to provide you with a proper valuation. Therefore it is vitally important that you find the right specialist lease extension surveyor to provide [...]

Posted in Lease Extension | Comments closed

What information should a Shareholders’ Agreement contain?

By Tim Bishop | Published: May 9, 2012

If you are going into business with other people, you will need to ensure that your interests are protected in the form of a Shareholders’ Agreement. The agreement sets out the rights and obligations of the Shareholders, regulates the sale of shares in the company, details how the company is going to be run and [...]

Posted in Business law | Comments closed

What rights do grandparents have?

By Tim Bishop | Published: May 8, 2012

Grandparents have a huge part to play in modern family life and are often heavily relied upon to assist with childcare and support, yet their rights are limited and they also do not have an automatic right to contact with their grandchildren. Having said that, courts are becoming more amenable to granting grandparents contact and [...]

Posted in Family law | Comments closed

The Law on Right to Manage

By Tim Bishop | Published: May 4, 2012

The leaseholders of flats have had the right to manage their own blocks since September 30, 2003 under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act of 2002 became law. However, exercising your right to manage does involve legal costs– not only do you have to pay the costs of right to manage company formation, you will [...]

Posted in Right to manage | Comments closed

Employers – Collective Redundancy points to watch

By Tim Bishop | Published: May 3, 2012

Where an employer is proposing to dismiss as redundant 20 or more employees at one establishment within a period of 90 days or less, they must follow a collective information and redundancy consultation process in addition to standard redundancy procedures. Failure to do so can lead to additional ‘protective awards’. Employers must also put the [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments closed

Why not settle for a Compromise Agreement?

By Tim Bishop | Published: May 2, 2012

The government’s recent employment law reforms, which came into effect earlier this month, include the renaming of Compromise Agreements to Settlement Agreements. This renaming issue seems to have gone largely unreported. The rationale behind the changes is, apparently, that the word ‘compromise’ prompts connotations of inequality when it comes to negotiation of a fair settlement [...]

Posted in Compromise agreement, Employment law | Comments closed

Is the downturn in the economy to blame for the rise in the divorce rate?

By Tim Bishop | Published: May 1, 2012

119,589 divorces were granted during 2010 in England and Wales, an increase of 4.9 per cent on the previous year and the first increase since 2003. According to Office for National Statistics (ONS), like the previous recession of the early 1990’s, the number of divorces increased significantly in the year following the recession rather than [...]

Posted in Family law | Comments closed

Our excellent free drop-in legal surgeries

By Tim Bishop | Published: April 30, 2012

Just a quick blog to remind you that if you live locally to our offices in Salisbury, Amesbury and Andover, we run three drop-in legal advice surgeries which are absolutely free. • Salisbury office- every Tuesday evening between 515 PM and 7 PM in Salisbury • Andover office – Wednesday evenings between 5 PM and [...]

Posted in Family law, Law firms | Comments closed