Redundancy is a potentially fair reason for dismissal under section 98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996). For these purposes, an employee is dismissed by reason of redundancy if their dismissal is wholly or mainly attributable to: • the employer ceasing or intending to cease carrying on the business for the purpose of which the employee was employed by the employer • the employer ceasing or intending to cease carrying on that business in the place where the employee was so employed • the requirements of the business for employees to carry out work of

A legatee can alter the effect of a Will by passing on to someone else any property which the operation of a Will gives to him. For the general rules relating to variation of a Will by a legatee, including in relation to inheritance tax, capital gains tax stamp taxes and stamp duty land tax, see Practice Note: Variation of Will or intestacy after death. See also Variations: Tolleys Administration of Estates [G9.9]. Minors A variation can only be made affecting a person who is

Where one parent wishes to move and to take a child with them, absent the agreement of the other parent, it is necessary to seek the permission of the court as such a relocation is an exercise of parental responsibility. As such the court can make specific issue or prohibited steps orders. If there is an issue as to the person with whom the child should live, any dispute as to the location of where the child should live should be dealt with as part of the determination of the child arrangements order issue rather than as a separate matter. It is now clear that there is now no difference in the legal test that the court will apply when considering both internal and external relocation: Re C (Internal Relocation). At paragraph 51 of her judgment, Black LJ made clear that the welfare of the child remained the paramount consideration. The previous test of exceptionality, which required the

We have assumed that the executors are not the solicitors who prepared the deceased's Will. We refer you to Practice Note: Probate actions—Larke v Nugus requests. In particular, the section titled: 'What about the Will drafter’s duty of confidentiality'. This section explains why the Will drafter may find the position less than straightforward in deciding whether to comply with a Larke v Nugus SJ 123 (1979) 337 (not reported by LexisNexis®) request in circumstances where the request is not made by all the executors jointly and may appear to be unfounded. It also contains links to the ACTAPS code of conduct and the Law Society's

Where a trust is created by an express lifetime declaration, the settlor simply declares that they hold the trust property on trust for the specified person or object absolutely. The settlor must be unequivocal in their declaration and should communicate the terms of the trust to the beneficiaries. The following must be present: • there must be property capable of being subjected to a trust • the trust must meet the requirements for formal validity • the terms of the trust must be sufficiently certain (essential validity) • the purpose of the trust must not be unlawful Joint owners who wish to settle a property on trust can do so using one declaration

There are many factors that may affect the ability of one co-owner to sell jointly owned property. It has not been indicated whether the parties were married or not, which is very significant as to how the courts would approach a jointly owned property. This Q&A has been drafted on the basis that the parties were not married. Joint tenancy or tenants in common Where property is purchased in the joint names of two or more co-owners, a statutory ‘trust of land’ arises (section 1 of the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TOLATA 1996)). The parties can hold the legal title on trust for themselves as: • joint tenants, or • tenants in common If the co-owners are joint tenants, each has an indivisible share in the property, where each owns the whole, rather than an identifiable share of the property.

A decree of judicial separation does not dissolve or end the marriage: it relieves the petitioner of the obligation to cohabit with the respondent. A decree absolute puts an end to the status of marriage between the parties. Where a decree of judicial separation has been obtained and one party then wishes to apply for a divorce, section 4 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) provides that a person shall not be prevented from presenting a petition for divorce by reason only that the petitioner or respondent has at any time on the same facts or substantially the same facts as those proved in support of the petition been granted a decree of judicial separation. The court may treat the decree of judicial separation as sufficient proof of any fact by reference to which it was granted but must receive evidence from the petitioner (MCA 1973,

It is often the case that a company will secure borrowing by way of a fixed and/or a floating charge over its assets. A fixed charge is a charge that specifically relates to an asset, whereas a floating charge is one which crystallises into a fixed charge on the happening of a particular event. A negative pledge is an agreement not to give a charge or debenture to any other person. A discharge of a charge is effected by either Form DS1 or Form DS3 (the latter relating to release of part of the land from a registered charge), which are completed by the lender. Form AP1 or Form DS2 must then be used to make the

Where a person dies, the legal title to their property will vest in their executors appointed under their Will or, where they die intestate, in the public trustee pending the grant of letters of administration. The personal representatives (PRs) are subject to a fiduciary duty to administer the estate properly and distribute it in accordance with the terms of the Will or in default of a Will the intestacy rules. Assuming that the land held by the PR should by the Will or the intestacy rules be passed to the beneficiaries, or sold and the proceeds passed to them, the beneficiaries have a number of methods to require the PR to comply with their obligations. As a residuary legatee has no interest in a defined part of the estate

Adverse possession—requirements For a person to be able to acquire title to land through adverse possession, there are certain requirements which must be satisfied in all cases: • uninterrupted factual possession of land for the required period of time • intention to possess the land during the period of possession It is possible for chains of occupiers to acquire title to land through adverse possession. Further, title to land acquired by adverse possession can be inherited. Assuming the requirements for adverse possession are met, there are different processes by which title to land is acquired, depending on whether the land is registered or unregistered. These are: • unregistered land—to acquire title to unregistered land through adverse possession, the claimant must be able

As identified in Practice Note: Chancel repair liability, chancel repair liability (CRL) was originally classified as an overriding interest (ie it was protected even though it was not registered). However, the current position is that if CRL was not registered against the affected estate before 13 October 2013, a registrable disposition of the affected estate on or after that date in favour of a purchaser for value allows the purchaser to take free of any CRL. This is the effect

We have assumed for the purposes of this Q&A that: • there is intervening land which, following the sale, will neither be owned by the seller or the buyer and accordingly we have focussed our analysis on implied easements and easements of necessity and • existing surface water does not flow into an adopted drainage system which takes the surface water to the river Please note however, it is only possible for an implied easement and an easement of necessity to be created where the relevant pieces of land have at some point been in common ownership. Otherwise, the express grant of drainage rights will only affect the retained and sold