In a non-contentious application to the Court of Protection to make gifts from the protected party's estate, a litigation friend can be appointed by court order or, in certain circumstances, without a court order. To avoid involving the Official Solicitor, the applicant can propose another suitable individual to act as the litigation friend, provided they meet the necessary criteria. To appoint a litigation friend by court order, an application must be made using Form COP9 in accordance with the Part 10 procedure. The application must be supported by evidence demonstrating

The court has discretion as to whether costs are payable by one party to another, the amount of those costs and when they are to be paid. The court has a discretion to make a costs order at any stage of the proceedings. When deciding whether to exercise its discretion, the court should have regard to all the circumstances of the case including: • the parties’ conduct at CPR 44.2(4)(a) (further explained in CPR 44.2(5)) (for further information, see Practice Note: Costs

Assignment formalities Section 136 of the Law of Property Act 1925 (LPA 1925) sets out the basic requirements for a legal assignment. Those requirements are thus: • the assignment must be absolute • the rights to be assigned must be wholly ascertainable • the assignment must be in writing and signed under hand by the assignor • only the benefit of an agreement may be assigned • notice of the assignment must be received by the other part or parties for the assignment

Section 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 (LRHUDA 1993) is concerned with the giving of notice by qualifying tenants of a claim to exercise the right to collective enfranchisement in respect of flats. The initial notice triggers the statutory procedures for acquiring the freehold and from the date it is served on the landlord the participating tenants are jointly and individually liable for the landlord’s costs. An incomplete notice can be rejected as invalid. It is possible for an invalid notice to be replaced with a corrected notice, though that will involve additional time and expense. For more information,

For an understanding of what was intended by the government in relation to the proposed exemptions, as set out in its response to the consultation (‘Fifth Money Laundering Directive and Trust Registration Services’, published on 15 July 2020), it is necessary to introduce some technical terminology. By way of background, it is true that 13 respondents advocated an exemption for ‘where a trust is established to hold a lump sum death benefit for minors’ (see consultation response, paragraph 2.4). It was argued by these respondents that such trusts were ‘regulated elsewhere’, although it is not clear where and how the respondents thought this regulation occurred, given that the assets would by definition no longer be in the wrapper of a registered pension scheme. Death benefit trusts for minors would appear to be outside the scope of the oversight of the Pensions Regulator: see section 5 of the Pensions

Although tenants are offered a significant degree of protection where Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) applies, security of tenure is a one-way street. LTA 1954, Pt II provides for security of tenure for business tenancies, allowing them to be terminated by the landlord only by specific notice as provided for by the statute. In the event that the lease is not contracted out, it will be necessary for the landlord to seek to terminate it in accordance with those provisions. However, LTA 1954, s 24(2) provides among other things that the tenancy can still come to an end by notice to quit given by the tenant. Therefore, whether or not the instant lease is protected

The duty of disclosure is the duty to state that a document exists or has existed (CPR 31.2). Usually this is complied with by providing standard disclosure (CPR 31.5) as ordered by the court. Surveillance evidence will usually fall within the scope of standard disclosure in that it will support or adversely affect the case of one of the parties (CPR 31.6). Once a document has been disclosed a party to whom it has been disclosed has a right to inspect it (CPR 31.3). The duty of standard disclosure is a continuing duty and CPR 31.11(2) specifically states that

We have assumed for the purposes of this Q&A that the claimant has not issued a claim form to the court in accordance with CPR Part 8 and CPR PD 8B following the expiry of the applicable time periods relating to consideration of the Settlement Pack sent to the defendant as part of Stage 2 of the RTA Protocol procedure. The RTA protocol Pursuant to the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents (the RTA protocol), there is a 35-day period for consideration of the Stage 2 Settlement Pack by the defendant. The total consideration period can be extended by the parties agreeing to extend either the initial consideration period or the negotiation period or both. If the parties are unable to reach agreement after expiry of the set or agreed period, the claim will proceed to Stage

In answering this Q&A, we have assumed that the instructed solicitor had filed a valid notice of acting and that the landlord is an individual and not a company and is not a protected party pursuant to CPR 21. We have also assumed that your query does not relate to claim by a local housing authority and that the letting agent is not a solicitor’s agent for the purposes of the Legal Services Act 2007 (LSA 2007). A right of audience is a reserved legal activity under LSA 2007, Pt 3. A representation at court can only be made by a person who has a right of audience. It is assumed that the instructed solicitor had already filed

A valid Part 36 offer must specify a period of not less than 21 days within which the defendant will be liable for the claimant’s costs in accordance with CPR 36.13 or CPR 36.20 if the offer is accepted: CPR 36.5(1)(c). See Practice Notes: Part 36 offers—how to make a valid Part 36 offer and Part 36 offers—how and when to accept a Part 36 offer. In the definitions section of Part 36 (CPR 36.3) the ‘relevant period’ means, in the case of an offer made not less than 21 days before a trial, the period specified

Attitudes to covert surveillance in Children Act 1989 cases vary widely. The starting point in respect of any attempt to introduce material gained surreptitiously, whether by a parent recording a child or another parent, or by the use of a private investigator, will be to consider whether it is appropriate and in the best interests of the child for such evidence to be admitted. Family Procedure Rules 2010 (FPR 2010), SI 2010/2955, 22.1 entitles the court to control evidence by giving directions as to the issues upon which evidence is required, the nature of evidence required and the way in which evidence is to be placed before the court. This entitles the court to exclude otherwise admissible evidence or to allow evidence that has not been obtained in accordance with FPR 2010. There is limited binding

Lotteries Under the Gambling Act 2005 (GA 2005), most types of lotteries are illegal (except for the National Lottery and small, private, society and local authority lotteries) and can only be lawfully operated under a lottery operating licence. GA 2005, s 14(2) provides that the three elements of a lottery are: • the requirement to pay to take part • the allocation of prizes, and • the determination of