21 December 2018
Jo was quoted in the Times Brief, taking a pre-emptive stand against the now popular notion that the first working Monday in January is the most popular day for starting divorce proceedings.
Read more
18 December 2018
A recent case highlights the problems that can arise when drafting lease terms, and is likely to be welcomed by tenants, argues Emma Gosling.
Read more
5 December 2018
Kathryn Copeland reviews the key developments in commercial landlord and tenant law in 2018.
Read more
2 December 2018
Following Good Divorce Week, an annual campaign by Resolution that aims to raise awareness of how divorcing parents can limit the impact of divorce on their children, Jo’s comments on how to have a good a divorce were published by The Daily Telegraph.
Read more
27 November 2018
I am investing in property in London and have a concern that one or two of the apartments I am buying will be leasehold. I realise that there is a government consultation coming up. Should I expect changes to the laws around leaseholds after that?
Read more
23 November 2018
Head of Family, Jo Edwards wrote for The Times on spousal maintenance reform.
Read more
22 November 2018
The Bill seeks to provide a new approach regarding financial awards on divorce.
Jo warns that restricting spousal maintenance to an arbitrary fixed term could result in serious financial hardship in some cases. “The Bill would unwisely remove from judges the current flexibility that allows them to ensure a fair outcome in all kinds of cases.”
Read more
20 November 2018
HMRC has surprised many with a statement that the government does not intend to remedy a defect in the tax treatment of offshore income gains arising in non-resident trusts.
Read more
12 November 2018
Associate in the Family team, Jonathan Lyness, writes for Professional Adviser on the wider context of civil partnerships for opposite-sex couples.
As the government prepares to legislate to allow opposite-sex couples to enter into civil partnerships, Jonathan considers the similarities and differences with marriage, as well as the continuing financial vulnerability of cohabitees.
Read more
5 November 2018
Xavier Nicholas and George Mitchell write for the International Law Office (ILO) on the Court of Appeal's decision in Ardmore Construction v HMRC.
Read more
2 November 2018
Senior Associate, Edward glass, was quoted by Property Week in an article discussing the effectiveness of energy performance certificates (EPCs) following the end of a government consultation.
Read more
1 November 2018
Key issues for people and businesses who are interested in real property
Read more
22 October 2018
Proposals announced by Theresa May could see stamp duty land tax increased for foreign buyers of English residential property.
Elizabeth Small, partner in our Real Estate and Corporate Tax team, examines the detail in her latest article for Estates Gazette.
Read more
18 October 2018
Jade Capper, associate in our Commercial Real Estate team, wrote an article for Property Law Journal exploring the rise and rise of the serviced office market.
Read more
17 October 2018
Residential Property partner, Helen Marsh, responded to a reader's question in The Telegraph Money.
Read more
3 October 2018
Private Client partner, Kelly Noel-Smith, and associate, Alex Tamosius, have co-authored an article published in the August – September edition of the STEP Journal.
Read more
2 October 2018
Head of Family, Jo Edwards advised a Financial Times reader on the query – Do I have a legal right to part of my husband’s pension?
Read more
30 September 2018
The Sunday Times article discussed the possibility of CrowdJustice opening its platform to people wishing to raise funding for divorce/related proceedings.
Read more
27 September 2018
The Ministry of Justice released its quarterly Family Court Statistics, for the period April to June 2018, today.
Read more
26 September 2018
The 2017 divorce statistics for England and Wales were released by the ONS on 26 September and showed a headline reduction of 4.9% since 2016.
Read more
25 September 2018
Head of Private Client, Patrick Harney was quoted in an article on Bloomberg.com which discussed the contingency plans that some of the UK’s high net worth individuals are making for a Labour government.
Read more
15 September 2018
After news leaked last week of their plans, the government today published its consultation on no fault divorce.
Jo Edwards was interviewed on the BBC News Channel about the detail of the consultation, previous attempts to change the law and her hopes this time.
Read more
7 September 2018
In the aftermath of news that the government is to consult on legislation to bring in no fault divorce, Jo was interviewed on the BBC News Channel and Radio 4.
Read more
4 September 2018
Head of Private Client, Patrick Harney co-authored an article with US attorney Bruce Steiner entitled “Prince Harry’s Estate Planning”.
Read more
1 September 2018
Presenter Paul Lewis asked Jo whether the McLaughlin judgment, which rules that the government’s position not to extend bereavement benefits to unmarried parents is unlawful, actually changes the law for cohabiting couples; what is the prospect of law reform; and wider issues that cohabiting couples have to bear in mind.
Read more
31 August 2018
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in McLaughlin, the panel took calls from members of the public about whether the law should recognise cohabiting couples.
Jo explained their lack of rights at the moment and attempts to change the law.
Read more
30 August 2018
Head of Family, Jo Edwards appeared on BBC 5 o’clock News, ITV News Weekday Lunchtime and Teatime and Channel 4 News on the day that the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Siobhan McLaughlin. Ms McLaughlin was denied access to widowed parent’s allowance, after her partner died, because they were not married. The couple had lived together for 23 years and had four children.
Read more
30 August 2018
The news that the Supreme Court had ruled that not allowing a cohabiting mother to claim bereavement payments, after her partner passed away, was discriminatory and a breach of human rights was published in The Guardian, The Financial Times,
Read more
30 August 2018
Jo Edwards, Head of Family discussed the Supreme Court judgment in favour of Siobhan McLaughlin, that refusing her and her four children bereavement benefits because she was not married to her late partner was discriminatory and a breach of human rights.
Read more
28 August 2018
Head of Family, Jo Edwards wrote an opinion piece for the iNews entitled “Death-bed marriages are on the rise – the law is failing cohabiting couples.”
Read more
18 August 2018
The Guardian published two articles, one published online entitled the “Rise in deathbed weddings prompts call to protect cohabiting couples” and the other in print entitled “Give more legal rights to cohabiting couples, lawyers urge Government”.
Read more
17 August 2018
Head of Family, Jo Edwards appeared on BBC Radio 4’s iPM radio show hosted by Luke Jones.
Read more
15 August 2018
Private Wealth partner, Fiona Smith discussed lasting powers of attorney (LPAs) on BBC Radio 5’s Afternoon Edition.
Read more
8 August 2018
A recent judgement in the TCC (Imperial Chemical Industries Limited v Merit Merrell Technology Limited) contains some strident criticism of the experts giving evidence in the trial. In addition, although the Judge (Fraser J) reserves his most direct criticism for the experts, he was clearly unimpressed with the lawyers who had instructed them. There are therefore lessons both for experts and
Read more
7 August 2018
Soon-to-be-qualified lawyer in the Family team, Jonathan Lyness wrote alongside Gary Yan, a partner at Coote Family Law in Melbourne, on a number of family law issues relating to same-sex couples.
Read more
6 August 2018
The Sunday Times published a feature entitled “It's over : splitting spouses ‘go private’ to speed up divorce”.
Read more
1 August 2018
The recent changes to the taxation of trusts settled by non-UK domiciled individuals have given rise to a potentially adverse tax consequence for trusts which invest in funds that give rise to offshore income gains (OIGs).
Read more
27 July 2018
Head of Family and past Resolution chair, Jo Edwards, was interviewed on BBC Radio 4 by Clive Coleman and ABC Radio Sydney by Josh Szeps about the recent Supreme Court decision in Owens v Owens, highlighting the calls for no-fault divorce.
The Mirror also published a comment piece by Jo.
Read more
19 July 2018
In a recent article for Estates Gazette, Ben Barrison, Property Litigation partner, and Rahul Varma of Selborne Chambers consider the impact of company voluntary arrangements on landlords and the steps they can take to protect themselves.
Read more
19 July 2018
On 18 July, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Mills v Mills.
Read more
16 July 2018
Private Client partner, Fiona Smith, provided comment for an article discussing lasting powers of attorney (LPAs) in The Times.
Read more
11 July 2018
Jo Edwards wrote a piece for Brides magazine raising key questions that couples should consider before marriage.
Read more
10 July 2018
Sarah Heatley, associate in Forsters' Property Litigation team, was published in Property Law Journal.
Sarah's article, entitled 'Upsetting the apple cart', looks at a decision which adds a further layer to the process of repossession when serving a section 21 notice.
Download PDF
6 July 2018
On 28 June 2018, Kelly Noel-Smith participated in STEP’s roundtable discussion at the Law Society as part of a select group of private client specialists.
Read more
28 June 2018
The Ministry of Justice quarterly statistics for January to March 2018, released on 28 June, show that some divorce centres are taking up to twice as long as last year to process applications for Decree Nisi and Decree Absolute, taking up to 27 and 51 weeks respectively.
Read more
27 June 2018
On 27 June, Rebecca Steinfield and Charles Keidan won their appeal when the Supreme Court ruled that the Civil Partnership Act 2004, which permits such unions for same sex but not opposite sex couples, was discriminatory and in breach of their human rights.
Read more
7 June 2018
Leading family lawyer, Rosie Schumm, was quoted in The Times Brief discussing the landmark case of Graham Mills.
Read more
7 June 2018
Forsters partner and leading private client lawyer, Carole Cook, was quoted in an article by The Law Society Gazette.
The article, entitled 'Fiscal Ferment' explores the rate of change in the increasingly complicated global tax environment.
Read more
5 June 2018
Jo Edwards, Head of Family and past Resolution chair, featured on BBC Radio 4's Law in Action to answer the question 'should it be easier to end a marriage?'.
Read more
30 May 2018
The Finance (No 2) Act 2017 requires disclosure of acts of historic non-compliance to HMRC by 30 September 2018. These provisions are known as the requirement to correct rule.
Trustees should be considering how they may be affected by this rule. In particular, the rule covers the obligations upon trustees to report and settle inheritance tax ten yearly charges.
Download PDF
25 May 2018
Head of Family, Jo Edwards discusses the case of Mr and Mrs Owens, as calls continue for divorce reform in England and Wales.
Read more
18 May 2018
Jo Edwards, Head of Family, wrote a piece for The Guardian making the case for a no-fault divorce system that would free spouses from apportioning blame for the breakdown of their marriage.
Read more
17 May 2018
Head of Family, Jo Edwards was invited onto BBC2’s Victoria Derbyshire programme alongside Penny Mansfield and Natasha Brittan to provide expert opinion on England and Wales’s current divorce system and calls for divorce reform. During the programme Jo discusses the potential benefits of no fault divorce, including reducing conflict, particularly in cases involving children.
Read more
16 May 2018
Carole Cook, partner in our Private Client team, was quoted by The Law Society Gazette in their article 'On the money'.
Read more
15 May 2018
Jo Edwards, Head of Family, answers a reader's question in the Financial Times about the court's approach to maintenance on divorce where someone has had time out of the workplace to raise children.
Read more
15 May 2018
Leading family lawyer and partner in Forsters' Family team, Rosie Schumm and trainee solicitor, Jonathan Lyness, wrote a piece for Spear's magazine discussing the upcoming Supreme Court Judement as Charles Keidan and Rebecca Steinfeld campaign to extend civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples.
Read more
8 May 2018
Jo Edwards, Head of Family, was quoted in The Telegraph discussing the unequal rights of and financial pitfalls faced by unmarried couples upon the death of a partner.
Read more
1 May 2018
The Finance (No. 2) Act 2017 contains provisions requiring disclosure of historic non-compliance to HMRC by 30 September 2018: the "requirement to correct" rule. This is part of a range of legislation targeting offshore tax evasion.
Download PDF
1 May 2018
James Brockhurst, senior associate, and Raffaella Maisto, associate, both of Forsters' Private Client team, consider the recent consultation on capital gains tax (CGT) payment requirements relating to disposals of UK residential property in a recent Q&A style article for Lexis PSL Private Client.
Read more
30 April 2018
Jo Edwards, Head of Family, was quoted in an article by The Guardian about the Supreme Court case of Siobhan McLaughlin, who is fighting the state’s refusal to pay widowed parent’s allowance to an unmarried mother.
Read more
26 April 2018
Jo Edwards, Head of Family, was quoted by The Guardian discussing no-fault divorce.
Read more
16 April 2018
Senior associate, Amanda Sandys and associate, Christine Abbotts have written for YourMoney.com on the non-disclosure of assets upon divorce.
Read more
14 April 2018
Jo Edwards, Head of Family, joined host Paul Lewis on BBC Radio 4’s Money Box to discuss the upcoming Supreme Court case of Siobhan McLaughlin, who is challenging the rules that refuse her and her four children bereavement benefits because she was not married to her late partner.
Read more
29 March 2018
Natasha Rees, Head of Property Litigation, wrote for Property Law Journal reviewing the decision in Mundy, which saw the Court of Appeal analyse current valuation methods.
Read more
29 March 2018
The new figures, released on 29 March 2018, relate to cases in the family courts in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Read more
26 March 2018
Partner, Rosie Schumm, and associate, Dickon Cedeal wrote for Family Law Journal discussing the potential options for the reform of the law relating to cohabitants. The article, entitled 'Cohabitants: Ripe for reform?', is available behind a paywall.
Read more
26 March 2018
Jo Edwards, Head of Family, wrote a piece for Brides magazine on prenuptial agreements.
Read more
20 March 2018
Question: We are buying a property, part of which has been described as a “flying freehold”. What is a flying freehold, and what problems can arise from it?
Read more
2 March 2018
Partner, Rosie Schumm and associate, Anna Ferster, wrote for Spear's magazine.
Read more
1 March 2018
Jo Edwards, Amanda Sandys and Jamie Gaw have written for Family Law Journal contributing what will be a regular column focusing on family dispute resolution (DR).
Read more
28 February 2018
The new figures, released on 28 February 2018, cover marriages formed in 2015, including the first full year's figures for same sex marriages.
Read more
21 February 2018
Forsters responds to the HMRC consultation regarding the radical changes to the taxation of gains by non-residents in respect of UK land.
Read more
20 February 2018
Jo Edwards discusses a huge growth in the number of litigants in person in family cases and what is being done, as well as what remains to be done, to help them.
Read more
15 February 2018
Question: As a commercial landlord we are increasingly seeing interest from our tenants for the installation of electric vehicle charging points. What are the issues that we should consider?
Read more
1 February 2018
Head of Family, Jo Edwards, was quoted by Spear’s Magazine in a piece discussing Tim Loughton’s Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths Bill.
Jo commented positively on the issue, noting that it helped draw attention to the lack of legal rights for cohabitating couples.
Read more
31 January 2018
The recent liquidation of Carillion is a stark reminder that even the biggest companies can fail. Every day seems to bring further worrying news about well-known retailers and restaurants, many of whom have large leasehold property portfolios.
Read more
18 January 2018
Asset Management
Question: As a commercial landlord we are increasingly seeing interest from our tenants for the installation of electric vehicle charging points. What are the points that we should consider?
Read more
18 January 2018
Family partner, Rosie Schumm, wrote an article for The Times’ Brief on the proposed Bill on Civil Partnerships, comparing the situation to other jurisdictions and emphasising the bigger problem of the lack of legal protection for cohabiting couples when relat
Read more
16 January 2018
I entered into a building contract with a contractor who has just entered into an insolvency procedure mid-way through the carrying out of the works. What should I do now?
Read more
12 January 2018
Head of Family, Jo Edwards, was interviewed by Campden FB about the continuing rise in nuptial agreements.
Read more
11 January 2018
Head of Family, Jo Edwards, appeared on ITV’s Tonight Show, “Divorce Wars”, to discuss no fault divorce and answer questions on whether UK divorce law is in need of reform.
After the show, Jo took part in a live Facebook Q&A answering questions from viewers and members of the public.
Read more
9 January 2018
Jo Edwards, Head of Family, had published a letter to the editor of The Times.
Read more
4 January 2018
Head of Family, Jo Edwards, answers a reader question featured in the Mail Online This is Money.
Read more
4 January 2018
With effect from 1 April 2018, the Minimum Energy Efficiency Regulations (“MEES”) will require a minimum EPC rating of E for all new leases, and for renewals or extensions of existing leases.
Read more