Who pays private school fees after divorce or separation?

According to the Financial Times the average fee for independent schools is now over £15,000 a year for day pupils and £36,000 for boarders. This represents a substantial financial commitment over the education of a child, and often has to be taken into account when negotiating a financial settlement after divorce or separation. Disputes can arise for many reasons, perhaps parents have different priorities or maybe one parent is finding it harder to cope with paying school fees and all the extra costs. ‘Perhaps one of the largest bones of contention between separated parents when it comes to their children’s schooling is how the school fees will be paid,’ says Robert Bellhouse family law expert at Ware & Kay in York & Wetherby.  ‘Often, even prior to separation, parents have made sacrifices in order to pay…

Summer 2022, employment law update

This year’s Queen’s Speech was surprisingly light on employment law developments, with the omission of the long-awaited Employment Bill. However, the last few months have seen a couple of announcements from the Government regarding the future of work, data protection, exclusivity clauses and the menopause which employers need to be aware of, and tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal decisions continue to provide interesting reading, including decisions in the context of Covid-19. Kalpesh Nakeshree, Head of Employment Law with Ware & Kay, provides a round up of recent developments for employers. Whatever happened to the Employment Bill? The Employment Bill was proposed in 2019, and the Government has indicated several times that it would bring in changes such as extending redundancy protection for new parents and pregnant women and a new right to neonatal leave, as well…

Inheritance Tax Planning and Woodlands - seeing the wood for the trees!

Can you help the environment and save some tax?  Emma Elwess considers inheritance tax planning and woodlands. Brief inheritance tax position Inheritance tax can be complex but the rate of tax is 40%, above the ‘nil rate band’ on which there is no inheritance tax to pay – this band depends on the individual’s family circumstances and assets.  Why woodlands? Investing in woodland, or reviewing what you do with your existing woodland, can be a useful estate planning strategy – leaving more for you to pass to the next generation. Is it a business? Woodland may qualify for Business Property Relief if commercially owned and managed as a business. Examples of businesses that could qualify include woodland used for camping, fishing, or where the timber is being generated for sale – even if a sale may…

Be a good sport! Take care with sporting rights on farmland

Sporting rights can be extremely valuable to landowners with some, such as rights on a grouse moor, being potentially of more value than the land itself.  Granting sporting rights to others also provides an attractive means of diversification and a source of additional revenue to improve profit margins. However, as Jacqueline Barr, an agricultural law specialist at Ware & Kay Solicitors in York & Wetherby explains, ‘There can be pitfalls, when others have sporting rights over your property as this gives them the legal right to enter your land to hunt, fish or shoot.’ Acquiring land When buying piece of land, many believe that they will own it in its entirety and have the right to do whatever they want on it, and to stop other people doing anything on it too. Under English property law…