News & Legal Updates

One of my favourite films in 2019 was Knives Out, the whodunit starring Daniel Craig as the American south’s answer to Poirot.  It features my new favourite “Reading of the Will” scene.  You know the ones:  the scenes where the deceased person’s lawyer reads out the provisions of the Will in front of the assembled … Continue reading "Overturning a Will: “Knives Out” for disappointed beneficiaries?"

I’m pretty sure the last thing you would expect to happen on a hot summer’s day in a pub is receiving a phone call that will kick-start your legal career sooner than expected. This happened to me and, unknown to me at the time, it was a phone call that would benefit me in more … Continue reading "How being a Legal Intern has helped me"

It is said that by 2025, 1 in 6 will be diagnosed with Dementia. It is times like Dementia Awareness Week that thought turns to the future and steps are taken to ensure the appropriate provisions are in place for a diagnosis such as Dementia. At present, there is no cure for Dementia however, measures … Continue reading "Power of Attorney – Planning our Affairs"

A Power of Attorney grants someone else permission to make decisions about your finances and property, as well as your health and personal welfare. It is vitally important that you have a Power of Attorney in place. Here are six reasons why you should have one… 1. Anything can happen to you at any time … Continue reading "6 Reasons Why You Should Have a Power of Attorney"

As society changes its approach to “disability” over time, parents of children with disabilities or additional support needs often find themselves in the front-line.  The structure of disability benefits frequently changes, with new rules dictating what payments are available, and the roll-out of replacement systems is often protracted and rocky (see Personal Independence Payments and … Continue reading "Becoming a Guardian(ship) Angel: looking after young adults with additional needs"

As if Christmas wasn’t complicated enough – the gifts, the decorations, the food, the parties, the hangovers – there is an added, and potentially trickier, consideration for separated parents.  Where, and with which parent, do your children spend the festive period, especially Christmas Eve and Day?  This is an issue that has had the attention … Continue reading "5 tips for successful Christmas arrangements for separated families"

What’s changing, what’s not, and why we need to rethink! Most of the law governing this area comes from the Succession (Scotland) Act 1964. Since then, society has undergone significant change, particularly in the range and diversity of family structures.  This has led to a number of attempts to review this area of law, to … Continue reading "Headlines on the Scottish Government response to the Consultation on the Law of Succession"

BBC News reported recently that the parents of a 15-year-old girl who was killed by a train in 2012 have only just been authorised by the High Court in Germany to take over her Facebook account.  It is incredible that it is only now, after 6 years, that this issue is being resolved for them. … Continue reading "What happens to your Facebook (and other digital assets) when you die or lose capacity?"

Last year, fans of the Netflix drama Better Call Saul witnessed the dramatic death of a major character in the season finale.  Jaw-dropping deaths have long been a hallmark of both BCS and its predecessor Breaking Bad, but at the start of this year’s new season of BCS, we got to see something new and … Continue reading "Better not Call Saul: a (spoiler free) look at Wills, challenges & legal rights"

It has been a time of significant change in the law governing private residential tenancies in Scotland. The First Tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber) took over responsibility for residential leases on the 1st of December 2017. This means that the Tribunal now has the power to deal with applications for eviction and for any … Continue reading "Landlord Applications for Evictions – Changes to Private Residential Tenancies."